Submerged in the Heart (7/29/18)
Is there anyone who is not involved in my daily work?
Who is the one who hasn’t given his soul to the Beloved’s way?
Is there any head like mine which doesn’t become drunk?
Is there any heart like mine which doesn’t cry, moan and groan? Continue reading
God’s Light (7/15/18)
The falcon said to the goose, “The valley is beautiful.”
“Have a good night,” answered the goose, then continued,
“This place is much better for me. Continue reading
Suffering and the Cure (7/1/18)
Who is the one who is not a servant, a slave of Your order?
Who is the one who is not drunk after seeing Your face?
Show me someone who is in trouble whose trouble is not Yours.
Or, show me a joy which has been created without Your hope. Continue reading
One Day… (6/3/18)
One day your heart will take you to the One who caught your heart.
One day your soul will take you to the Beloved.
Don’t let go of the skirt of your pain.
One day your pain will take you to the Remedy.
Rubailer, Page 474, Rubai #3
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
Nothing But Longing… (5/13/18)
My life has become nothing but longing.
O Beloved, what a beauty, what a charm is that?
I don’t clap my hands if You are not the player.
I don’t drink wine if You are not the cupbearer.
Rubailer, Page 471, Rubai #2
Our Peace is No Good (5/6/18)
There is a Beauty whose face resembles the Sun.
The nicest curtain is the shadow cast by Him.
He rises like the Sun. Particles become restless.
For goodness sake, don’t keep that Spring-like face behind the curtain. Continue reading
It Should Be Lit (3/11/18)
Man’s heart is like a candle: It should be lit and shine.
There is a void in man’s soul because of his being separated from the Beloved. That void needs to be repaired.
Know, O ignorant one who understands none of what makes or breaks a heart, who neither smiles nor cries,
Love isn’t knowledge to be learned, but something to be encountered,
Rubailer, Page 449, Rubai #2
Don’t Worry (1/28/18)
Once you become the friend of one whose heart is in God,
don’t pay attention to other people and their customs.
Your soul will fall in Love’s fire like your fate.
Don’t worry. Don’t run away.
Know this well: From now on, you won’t fit in anywhere.
Rubailer, Page 424, Rubai #2
It Will Stay With You (1/14/18)
The branch that is full of flowers today will grow lots of fruit tomorrow.
The falcon of desire will go on the hunt one day.
The image of the Beloved comes and goes now,
but the time will come when it stays with you.
Rubailer, Page 421, Rubai #2
From the Coast of the Sea of Soul (12/24/17)
O lovers, may all your drinks do you good.
May this world become for you a sugar mine.
O lovers, the sounds of the best wishes have ascended to the Throne.
This caravan has gone beyond the Earth and heaven. Continue reading
Only a Madman… (11/19/17)
I said, “O Beloved, You are wine. I am the glass.
I am a dead body, You are my soul.
Come. Open, unlock the door of Your Kindness.”
He answered, “Be silent. Only a madman keeps his door open all the time.”
Rubailer, Page 390, Rubai #4
Absence Is for Heroes (11/12/17)
Once more, we have given up our heart, mind and soul.
The Beloved has come. We will stay out of the way.
We have turned our back on existence. Our direction is Absence.
We have found the One whose trace is unseen.
We have given up the trace. Continue reading
The Longing for You Is for You (10/1/17)
Love is not knowledge or superiority.
Love is not in books or papers.
The words of people are mere gossip.
Love is not like that.
Non-Existence Appeared Like Existence (9/17/17)
When I desired Union, when I burned with fire,
I went to Mount Sinai, like Moses.
There, I saw a sultan, the Sultan of sultans,
a charmer who attracts the heart, who adds Soul to souls. Continue reading
The Situation Is Not Like That (8/20/17)
Between the darkness of sleep and the light of awakening,
in the dark of evening, I saw such a person!
He was a traveler with such a beautiful face, on his journey to the Holy Temple.
He was pure wisdom, the light of awareness. Continue reading
Reason Has Become His Fool (8/13/17)
He is such a sultan that reason has become his fool.
He and my heart stay in the same house.
He sent a messenger, saying, “I am yours,”
and with that, hundreds of candles became moths for His light.
Rubailer, Page 359, Rubai #4
The Sign and Evidence (7/30/17)
You are the light of my heart, the peace and comfort of my soul.
You create troubles and, at the same time, You are the trouble.
They ask me, “Where are the signs, the evidence of the Beloved?”
But, the lack of signs and evidence is the sign and evidence of the Beloved.
Rubailer, Page 358, Rubai #1
“You Are Not Mud. You Are This Gold.” (7/23/17)
Don’t you see?
Thirst is telling water to go away. Hunger is turning its nose up at bread.
The tunnel is angry at the sun because it doesn’t want its light.
What a crazy, stupid, unfortunate situation this is. Continue reading
Just Think About… (7/2/17)
I have so much excitement in my heart
that it is intolerable even for the sky.
Majnun and Layla* can’t see my exuberance even in their dreams.
All this exaltation is only a small portion of the Beloved’s,
so think about how it is in that heart of His.
*Majnun & Layla Characters in a famous Arabic love story.
Rubailer, Page 349, Rubai #2
“Let Me Tell You Something” (6/25/17)
For my Beloved, it is to break hearts.
For me, God’s grace has given me Love.
What beautiful sustenance is this? Continue reading
“Thanks to God,” You Say (5/28/17)
If you don’t know me,
ask the dark night about me;
the night is the confidant of lovers
and the witness of the crying and wailing ones. Continue reading
His Beauty (5/21/17)
I said to the heart, “When You see the Beloved,
tell Him, if you can, about my situation, my sorrow.”
The heart answered, “When I see the Beloved,
I become so absorbed by His beauty that I can’t talk. I just keep looking at Him.”
Rubailer, Page 337, Rubai #1
A Slave (3/26/17)
Do you think that I am my own master?
That I control myself for even one moment?
Like a pen, I depend on the One who writes with me.
Like a ball, I am a slave of the Master who hits me with His club.
Rubailer, Page 330, Rubai #1
The Light of Soul’s Mirror (2/18/17)
Look. Look at Me carefully.
Know that I am a friend to you in your grave.
When you are away from the house or store,
I am the one who hangs around with you.
You hear My greeting in the grave,
although you have never been away from My eyes.
All those times you are happy and cheerful,
the times you are sad and in trouble,
I am inside of you, just like your mind and soul.
When you hear a familiar sound at night in a strange land,
know that you are secure from snake bites and troubles from ants.
The drunkenness of Love offers you wine in your grave,
lights a candle, offers appetizers, and burns incense for you.
When you light the candle of the mind,
what yells and screams in the cemetery come from death!
The soil of the cemetery becomes confused from these noises, this humdrum,
the beat of the drums of resurrection.
You tear your coffin; you plug your ears with fear.
What’s the use of brains or ears when they face the trumpet of resurrection?
Wherever you look, you see Me.
Whether you look at yourself or the crowd,
all you see is Me. Me.
Don’t be cross-eyed. Open both your eyes.
Look at Me nicely, because on that day,
poor eyesight will make My bright beauty look like it’s far, far away.
I appear human, but don’t ever make that mistake,
because the soul is very light, and Love is very tough, very jealous.
Never mind shape or form.
Even if I dress in felt, the cloak is still the light of the soul’s mirror;
it shines, becomes a flag, becomes apparent.
Beat the drum. Go to the musicians of the town.
The day of manifestation is for the voyager who is maturing on the path of Love.
If you hadn’t been after money and goods, if you had kept searching for God,
you wouldn’t see yourself in the coffin sitting next to a ditch.
You’ve set up such a house of informers in our town
that you’d better close your mouth now and be a silent informer, just like light.
Divan-i Kebir, Meter 7a, Gazel 125, Verses 1490-1504, Pages 30-341
Why Does Your Soul Keep Growing? (2/5/17)
Is there a lip from which the smell of Soul doesn’t come?
Is there a heart in which He doesn’t have a trace?
If there are no provisions coming from that famous table,
why is every particle chewing cud like a camel? Continue reading
The Smoke and Saliva of Thought (1/22/17)
If Love has the desire to embrace and kiss someone,
who could resist, my friend, who could?
When the Sultan goes hunting, the place where He hunts smiles.
But, when the Sultan becomes the hunt, what can you say to that? Continue reading
It Is Time (1/1/17)
How long will we be satisfied by the shapes and appearances of time?
How long will we watch and sniff after 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 at Him, I see my image. When I look at myself, I see His.
Rubailer, Page 296, Rubai #2
Yes, that door will be opened in the end.
Yes, in the end, that silver-bodied charmer will appear, show his face. Continue reading
O Wounded Heart, Relax (12/18/16)
O wounded heart, relax.
The time has come for relief. Breathe easy.
That peerless Beloved, so kind and generous to lovers,
has dressed as a human and come into this world.
Rubailer, Page 222, Rubai #1