No Place for Water and Earth (12/29/19)
Look at these fragments of soul
which have been chipped off, sparkling in this valley.
Watch this sea. Watch these ships
as they collide with each other. Continue reading
Both Worlds Are Submerged in Him (11/24/19)
If you want the Beloved to show His face to you, turn inside.
Give up your flesh and walk to the Essence.
He is such an Essence
that He is surrounded by layers of curtains.
He is submerged in His own Being,
and both worlds are submerged in Him.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 97.
I Am Right Here (11/17/19)
“I don’t have anything to do with this.”
That’s what you said, looking quite sour.
Words like “vinegar is a nice condiment” were written all over your face. Continue reading
Who Has… (11/3/19)
Who has seen a trace of that charmer?
In whose house is that full moon hidden?
Who has seen without eyes His Beauty?
Who has seen that world beyond this one? Continue reading
He Tells What He Sees (10/27/19)
O mortal, this is the Master of all the East.
This is the lightning from the cloud which scatters pearls.
Whatever you say is based on reasoning alone,
whereas He tells what he sees,
and that is the difference.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 70.
“Why Don’t You Come, Too?” (9/8/19)
“O heart,” I said, “why are you like this?
How long will you be hanging around Love?
My heart answered, “Why don’t you come, too?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you came and tasted the pleasure of Love? Continue reading
My Religion (8/11/19)
Absence in Nothingness is my religion.
Annihilation from existence is what I worship.
I run towards the side of the Beloved with my feet,
but the green horse of the firmament is under my saddle.
In one breath, I leave hundreds of planets behind me.
Then, I turn back and see
that that was only one step of mine.
Why should I circle around the Earth?
The Beloved is inside of my sweet soul.
Shams of Tebriz, whom all saints praise,
has teeth which resemble sieen.*
They are my Ya Sin.**
*sieen A letter of the Arabic alphabet.
**Ya Sin The title of the sura (section) of the Quran (which has 114 suras). Quran XXXVI.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 9, Ghazal 25, verses 258-262, page 41.
I am Absent (8/4/19)
He is inside and outside of my heart.
He is the soul of my body.
He is my blood and my veins.
How could faith or heresy fit here?
I am absent. He is all of my existence.
Rubailer (2016), page 68, Rubai #4
You are the Antidote…You are the Bait (7/28/19)
What is life without You?
Life without You is forbidden.
Living without Your beautiful face is nothing but death,
that thing which was given the name, “life.” Continue reading
I Did Not Recognize Who I Was (7/21/19)
At first, like others, I preferred being my self.
Although I was aware of my existence, I did not comprehend my being.
Because I could not see, I did not recognize who I was.
I was merely hearing my name.
Finally, and only when I went out of myself completely, I saw my real being.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 45.
Stay for Awhile (7/14/19)
A sugar buyer comes, saying,
“A caravan has arrived from Egypt.”
Hundreds of camels come loaded with sugar cane.
O my God, what a beautiful gift. Continue reading
I Have No Constancy, No Peace (6/30/19)
He said, “I am the fire which burns you.”
I answered, “Yes, but Your Love and Your sun are in my heart.
“If I smell one rose without Your Love,
burn me right away like a thorn.” Continue reading
Please Do Me a Favor! (6/23/19)
I was heart and soul without a body before… pure, clean, pleasant.
You built my body as a guest house and put my soul in it.
O my Master, please, do me a favor!
Pardon me. Recreate me as You did before. Bring me back to life.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, Page 44.
Anger (6/16/19)
If you keep getting angry on your journey,
your exuberance will soon fade away.
You will turn into cold ice. Continue reading
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O one who holds the halter of time,
O one who opens the door of the paradise of meanings!
Your divinity is what makes everything appear and scatter.
Your world of appearances is the ladder of wishes. Continue reading
From the End to the Beginning (2/24/19)
We are brave, insolent revolutionaries
who play with our own lives.
It is a pity that this muddy flesh
is the peer of our pure, clean soul. Continue reading
Our Voices and Screams (2/10/19)
We have gone. Best wishes to the rest.
Those born here on this planet always die here.
The One who lives above
knows that falling rock will surely hit the ground. Continue reading
I am Happy on this Journey (1/27/19)
I have gone, so one less headache in this world.
I am free from suspense. I have saved my soul.
I said goodbye to the ones I hang out with.
Then, I carried my soul to the land where a trace never appears.
I moved out of this house of six doors,
and took all my belongs to the land of Absence.
I saw the hunting Sultan of the land of Absence.
I flew like an arrow and took my bow.
The club of death came to my side.
I snatched the ball of happiness from the middle.
An amazing moon reflected in my window.
I went to the roof, carrying a ladder.
The dome of that sky where souls are gathered
was much nicer than I used to think.
My rose branch is faded and withered.
I took it back to the rose garden.
Like a customer, I took my money and belongs
to the source of the mine.
I saw a world with no boundary in the land of Absence.
I took my black tent to that place.
Don’t cry for me. I am happy on this journey.
My road reached the place of the heavens.
Engrave these words on my tombstone:
I saved my head from troubles and trials.
O body, sleep nicely in this place.
I have taken your news to the skies.
Close your mouth.
I took all the wailing to the One who created the world.
From now on, don’t talk about the heart’s sorrow,
because I took my heart
to the One who knows all the secrets.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 14, Gazel 132, Pages 29-30, Verses 1464-1479.
Your Sun (1/20/19)
My God, the thing this poor soul wants from You
is something for which not even sultans would dare ask.
Every particle is happy in the sunshine, but every one of them is still distant from Your sun.
And, this penniless beggar wants to have Your sun.
Rubailar (2016), Page 145, #1.
As long as a beauty appears in a shape, a form,
there will always be another beauty with a better shape, a better form.
This shaped beauty cannot be my Beloved.
Get rid of forms from your heart.
Then, the only Beauty which has no form or shape will be yours.
Rubailer (2016), Page 135, Rubai #3
Come to the Source of Your Source (12/30/18)
How long will you be going backwards?
Come forward. Don’t stay with heresy. It is time to come to faith.
See poison as sherbet. Grab the poison.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You are on the Earth as a form.
But, you are the threat of the pearl of certainty.
You have become the custodian of the storage of God’s grace.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
If you give yourself to ecstasy,
it is certain that you will be saved from yourself.
You have jumped out of the bonds of thousands of traps.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You came from the sperm of a prince.
Open your eyes to the truth of this ordinary world.
Pity how joyful you are.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
Although you are a spell of the Earth,
You are a mine inside.
Open both your eyes.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You are the son of light and greatness.
You have an auspicious fate and good fortune.
How long will you be crying over illusory things?
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You are a ruby, hidden among hard rocks.
How long will you be deceiving us?
O my friend, He appears to your eyes openly.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You come like that,
your beautiful eyes full of fire, drunk,
from the arms of the unruly Beloved,
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
That cupbearer, Shams of Tebriz, is offering you a glass of the wine of immortality.
It is pure and clear.
“Glory be to God.”
At last, come to the Source of your source.
Divan-i Kebir, Meter 13, Gazel 7, Pages 13-15 Verses 79-96.
What’s the Use of That? (12/2/18)
O player, play this music. Play this tune.
Alas for the ones who block the road!
Mercy especially for the one who waylays us on our road!
O player, you learned that other music from that other brigand,
because the student has the teacher’s accent. Continue reading
No One Is a Stranger There (11/18/18)
Every mind becomes confused when it sees Your face.
Every face is scratched by Your Absence.
I have become drunk because of Your reproach.
I don’t even know if Your pure wine is better than a sedimented one. Continue reading
The Signs of My Beloved (10/28/18)
Every particle of my body shows the signs of my Beloved.
Every part of my body is the expression of Him.
I lean towards Him as a lyre,
my crying song created by His hand.
Rubailer (2016), Page 102, Rubai #3
Hear This If You Can (9/30/18)
Hear this if you can:
“One has to go beyond himself to reach Him.”
When you do arrive in the world of Absence, don’t talk.
Ecstasy is the language there, not words.
Rubailer (2016), Page 175, Rubai #1
The Sweetness of Eternity (9/16/18)
There is nothing remaining in my ears except Love’s murmur.
There is nothing remaining in my soul–no reason, no thought–
only the sweetness of Eternity.
The colorless brush of Love has mixed all colors.
Now, it can’t even remember its past.
Rubailer (2016), Page 184, Rubai #4
Leave Him Alone. Let Him Go. (8/26/18)
I yelled, “Where is that drunk heart going?”
The Sultan of sultans said,
“Be silent. He is coming to our side.” Continue reading
So That’s That (6/17/18)
Tonight, take my soul completely from this poor body.
Take it out, so I will have no name, no fame in this world. Continue reading
The One Who Exists Is Not Me (5/20/18)
“O Sultan of the Earth,” I said in the early dawn,
“I swear to God that there is no one who matches You.
No one is Your peer. Continue reading
There Is Always a New Day (3/4/18)
I am Joseph of Canaan.
My face like the Moon is the witness to that,
although no one has asked for proof, for a witness from the Sun. Continue reading