Like You Used to Be (8/1/2021) O heart, go. Go. Turn to blood like you used to be. Go to the valley and plain where you used to be. Why are you rolling over the dirt of existence? Go to the furnace and brazier where you used to be.
Secrets Shaken Out with Thunder (7/25/2021) I became exuberant when that pearl emerged in me. I was turned into a rough sea by that storm. I revealed the secrets of the ocean, secrets shaken out with thunder. Then, I slept on the shore like an empty cloud. Rubailer (2016), Rubai
O Beloved, You flew away from this narrow cage. You freed Yourself from this dungeon of robbers and pickpockets. You cleaned the dirt and dust from the surface of the mirror. You saw whatever was in that mirror. You had been hearing, here and there, some news. You
Trying to Find Me (7/11/2021) I stopped over at a tavern one day. There, I started to tear my patched-up body-cloak into pieces. While everyone else was busy with their own affairs, I was busy destroying my self, trying to find Me. Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 326. A Rubaiyat
Focus Your Eyes on Absence (7/4/2021) You cut me off like an umbilical cord in the name of drunkenness. Even then, O Cupbearer, why did You leave me? You create such Love with every breath. O One who makes everything appear, why are You not apparent? There is
Because of My Longing (6/27/2021) Once this Love arrived, all other loves disappeared. Because of my longing for You, I was burned and turned into ashes. My ashes scattered and disappeared. Then, they came back, forming thousands of shapes again. Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 220. A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The
If you fall in Love with me, I will make you utterly confused. Don’t construct anything, because in the end, I will destroy you. Even if you make hives like a honey bee, I will still make you homeless like a fly. You want to make people admire
I was Amazed (6/13/2021) When I was drinking wine in Your tavern one day, I ripped off this cloak of mine, this cloak made of clay. In Your now-ruined tavern, I saw the harmony in its workings and in the workings of the universe. There was such balance of creation and
Anger (6/6/2021) All anger comes from pride. If you don’t fall into contempt, go, purify in humility. Give up the self. Be dust. Anger is born from contempt and from the self. Use them both as a ladder. Step on them and climb to the sky. Wherever you
From Existence to Nothingness (5/30/2021) I have twisted and wriggled like a snake because of someone’s charms. I have been curled up like the hair of the Beloved. By God, I don’t know what kind of twist that is. All I know is that suffering annihilates me, carrying me from
Your Only Dress Can Be the Light of the Heart (5/23/2021) You are such a moon that You don’t fit in the sky. You are such water that You cannot be contained in a river. You are such a pearl that You exceed the oceans. You are such a
On the way to Love, each lover must either annihilate himself or give up his life in death. Some say, “Love’s goal is to drink water from the Fountain of Life.” These are just empty words, O lover, just empty words. Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, page 226. A Rubaiyat of
O Sun who rides the horse of the sky! O Beauty who uses deception to turn Himself into a star! Sometimes, You appear like the heart sitting in the middle of the house. At other times You come and sit in a corner. Sometimes, You stay at a
I Am Your Remedy (5/2/2021) Endure your pain quietly. I am your remedy. Don’t look at anyone except Me, because I am your true friend. Even if I kill you, don’t say, “I have been killed.” Instead, be grateful, because I am the compensation for your life. Rubailer (2016), Rubai
As Long As… (4/25/2021) The parrot came to the tree to share sugar’s prayer. The rose asked the nightingale to read poetry. Receiving a revelation, the tall green cypress said, “As long as your soul stays in your body, put a belt on your waist. Serve day and night.
Today, I am on the outside of a circle, as if I am standing on the outside of a door. I have become friends with the door knocker, and I am holding onto it, knocking fearlessly. Once I become a true companion of vision, I will get through that door.
Glory after Glory (4/11/2021) If He destroys hundreds like me, that causes no sorrow for Him. You fall in Love. He doesn’t care. Your heart is broken. He has many others. He asks, “Why can’t your eyes see the wine?” What can they do? They are always wet in
I am happy, but that happiness is not from the reed-flute. I am warm, but that warmth is not from any water or fire. Love has emptied me so much of my self that when I am measured on a scale, I am two batmans* lighter than Nothing. *An historical
Walk Nicely Now (3/28/2021) Ascend to the sky from this banal world. Your soul will be blessed if you do. Walk nicely now. Yes, you have jumped out from this town which is so full of sickness and shivering. Now, make your home the land of happiness and joy.
When I Look (3/21/2021) How long will I be satisfied by the shapes and appearances of time? How long will I watch and smell of existence? I am tired of the materials and creatures of the present. It is time to see that Beauty of Beauties. But, when I look
Fire (3/14/2021) The Beloved’s heart is burning for me. Its flame has turned the Earth’s harvest into ashes. A candle put a fire in the heart of this slave, such a candle that it has made a soul of iron and stone melt like a candle. Thousands of bright
Into the Sea of the Beloved (3/7/2021) Don’t think that I have run away from you or that I have given my heart to someone else. I am not tied to anyone or anything. Because I am separated from my origin, I am a stranger here. And, I am running
I am the Treasure (2/28/2021) I wasn’t as insane as I am now. I wasn’t out of my mind like this before. I used to be prudent and wise once, not crazy and insane like I am now. Before now, I used to hunt like other lovers. I
When I Suffer (2/21/2021) I rejoice when I suffer. I flourish when I am ruined. I look quiet and silent like the earth, but my wailing reaches the sky like thunder. Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 294.
I Will Rise (2/14/2021) I am not the kind of lion which fights with the enemy. I fight with my self. That’s enough for me. I have become dirt for Love’s feet, but am settled in the knowledge that I will rise from the ground like a rose, like
A Shining Star Has Appeared (2/7/2021) I have been dissolved in the sea of purity like salt. There is no belief, no heresy left in me. Neither certainty nor doubt remains. A shining star has appeared in my heart. Even the seven levels of sky have disappeared into that star.
“Yes, that is me.” (1/31/2021) It comes to me that I am out of this world today. It comes to me that today, I am hidden from my self. I grabbed the knife and cut off my existence. Now, I don’t belong to me or anyone else. I
Scared (1/17/2021) I have traveled from town to town, but I haven’t seen any city like the city of Love. At the beginning, I didn’t appreciate the value of that city, and because of my ignorance, I suffered much in exile. I left that land of sugar cane
These Uproars (1/10/2021) We are being carried away by our desire to see the face of that Sultan. We are submerged like fish in His Love, His sea of eternal life. Dawn has broken. Morning has come. We are upset by these uproars, this untimely morning. We are begging for
The Light Calling Out (1/3/2021) I don’t know how I became annihilated from that wine. I don’t know where I am because of the beauty of placelessness. Once I was at the bottom of the sea. but then I rose like the sun. Sometimes I made the Earth