How Can You Look for the Unknown? (3/17/2024)

How Can You Look for the Unknown? (3/17/2024)

O heart, what kind of stories, what kind of adventures

are you looking for?

O heart, if you are looking for Me,

don’t you know that I am with you?

If you haven’t seen Me,

how can you look for the unknown, the unseen?

If you have seen Me, why are you still looking?

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 433.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, the Ergin Translations (pub.2024), Volume 3, Rubai 1100.

How Could I Ever Forget? (3/3/2024)

How Could I Ever Forget? (3/3/2024)

O One who reminded me last night,

reminded me of that moment of exuberance,

reminded me of the forgotten treasure!

How could I ever forget such a blessing?

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 424.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.2024), Volume 3, rubai 1090.

The King is Leading You (2/18/2024)

The King is Leading You (2/18/2024)

O one who searches for an escape route,

do you think you control life?

The King is leading you.

Don’t try to make yourself more important than the King.

He is the One who turns the poor one into the King of kings

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 424.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprxpub2024), Rubai 1087, Volume 3.

Beyond the Hot & Cold of this World (2/11/2024)

Beyond the Hot & Cold of this World (2/11/2024)

As Hodja is my witness,

I swear I will not make any vows again.

The glass of the vow is broken

as soon as I drink Love’s wine.

 

I swear to Your peerless beauty,

Your wine which defeats and ruins lions.

I won’t even get close to repentance.

 

I swear to Your sweet lips,

to Your heart which knows the secrets,

I am neither fond of this world

nor obliged to colors, to red and yellow.

 

I swear to Your sun-like face

and to the true value of Your words

that I am a thousand years

beyond the hot and cold of this world.

 

I swear to Your mind

which resembles a dark chestnut horse,

Your insignia which offers Soul,

that no one knows what kind of man I am

except You.

 

I swear to the blessedness of Your morning

and the uproar which comes after morning wine

that I will roll up the sky before I go.

 

O immortal Sultan, tell the cupbearer

that if someone comes to the assembly with a sour face,

he should serve him the sedimented wine of my sorrow.

 

That way, duality will disappear.

So will the difference between old and new.

Because at the sacred place of drinking,

I am separated from the crowd.

I am all by myself.

 

The cupbearer should offer so much wine

that that person becomes drunk, becomes a lover.

That way, he won’t be bothered

by either the echo of my voice or my cool reception.

 

When he becomes like that,

neither self nor envy will remain within him.

He will come to my playground pure and clean.

 

He will fly outside of time.

He will free himself from bait and trap.

He will turn himself into a witness

at this gambling place, without quarrel.

 

He will play with a clean heart like Venus.

He will submit himself to fate like dice,

saying neither, “I won,” nor “I lost.”

 

I will remain silent from now on.

I am neither nightingale nor parrot.

I am sugar.

I am a rose sapling.

Divan-i Kebir, Volume 22, Ghazal 24, verses 216-228, pages 51-53.

Not Out There (2/4/2024)

Not Out There (2/4/2024)

Sometimes you get tired of living with His sorrow

and so you reject life.

Sometimes you tell His story with the ache in your heart.

Why are you turning so dizzily around the world?

The One whom you search for

is not out there, but inside of you.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 471.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Rubai 1077, Volume 3 (apprx.pub.spring2024).

Don’t Make Me Talk with You through that Curtain (1/28/2024)

Don’t Make Me Talk with You through that Curtain (1/28/2024)

Since I am the slave of the Sun,

I should talk only about the Sun.

I am not the night and don’t worship the night.

Why should I talk about dreams? Continue reading “Don’t Make Me Talk with You through that Curtain (1/28/2024)”

On the Way to the Beloved’s Love (1/21/2024)

On the Way to the Beloved’s Love (1/21/2024)

You won’t taste ecstasy as long as you are sober.

You won’t know the soul if you stay in your body.

You will never reach the Truth

if you are not annihilated

like fire and water mixed together

on the way to the Beloved’s Love.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 450.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (ApprxPubSpring2024), Rubai 1083, Volume 3.

A Heart Full of Pearls (1/14/2024)

A Heart Full of Pearls (1/14/2024)

I have such an aspiration in my head.

Perhaps it is not a human’s head

I am in such a situation

that I am not aware of myself.

 

The Sultan of Love offers thousands of gifts.

All I want is to see His face. Continue reading “A Heart Full of Pearls (1/14/2024)”