I come slowly like water under straw
and carry away the mountain as if it were a piece of straw.
I drip from the gutter, drop by drop.
But, like a flood, I pick up and carry away hundreds of palaces. Continue reading “From the Breath of Love (12/13/2020)”
Your soul is so close to my soul
that I know whatever you think.
I have even better proof than this.
Come closer so I can show it to you. Continue reading “Come Closer So I Can Show It To You (11/29/2020)”
One should not try to avoid Him for even one moment.
Only ruin and wreckage come from being distance!
You say, “What could happen? I could come back.”
You could, but only if your heart opens its door again. Continue reading “Many Think This is Easy (10/18/2020)”
The mind may give you what you think is evidence.
Love gives you the Beloved, the Friend.
What comes from the mind is dirty water.
What comes from the Beloved is the Water of Life.
You may ascend to the sky with all the signs of a lover’s journey,
all the evidence which your mind so freely gives.
But in the sky, you will find no signs, no tricks, no traces.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi (2021), Rubai 1376 (Volume 3).
Come, O One who gives new life to the world.
Stop the workings of this smart mind. Continue reading “Where is His Roof? (8/9/2020)”
What is night, what is day for us
as long as He is in our heart?
He is the One who burns our heart. Continue reading “Enough for Us (7/26/2020)”
Have you ever known a wine which has no hangover?
Have you ever picked a rose which has no thorns? Continue reading “Have You Ever…? (6/14/2020)”
Without the pure water from the sea of Love,
our pearl would turn into stone.
If there were no world to be found inside of our soul,
our soul and that world would shrink and confine us.
Pain from the Beloved polishes your heart and soul.
Hold fast to it and it will clean away all of your dirt and rust.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, paghe 176.
Once I got a tiny whiff of Your scent,
I was forced to go Your way.
My color and scent were stolen by Yours.
I was annihilated in the end, so nothing was left of me,
not even a scent. No scent. Nothing.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, page 175.
Who is it that gives taste and charm to color and shape?
When He hides, form becomes like a child of the devil. Continue reading “Who Is It? (5/3/2020)”
My heart appreciates Beauty.
Why should I run away from the Beloved?
The dagger in my hand is a good one.
Why should I turn my face away from battle? Continue reading “If I Miss this Opportunity Now (4/5/2020)”
Just now, ruby-colored tears have started seeping from my eyes.
A sign has appeared from Love, yet a trace of Love’s dust never appears. Continue reading “A Sign Has Appeared from Love (3/8/2020)”
I am a mountain. I am echoing the Beloved.
I am a painting. That Beauty is my painter.
Do you think all these words I say belong to me?
No. They are the sound of the key turning in the lock.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 128.
I need such a Beloved that my soul will hold His stirrup.
I need such a musician that Venus will die in front of Him. Continue reading “Such a Love (2/23/2020)”
Something is striking like lightning.
I wonder if that is my heart captivating the Beloved.
What is shining from that corner?
Is that the ruby mine?
What is around that pearl?
Is it the Moon or a star?
It is suspended like a lamp made of divine light.
I wonder. Is it soul’s lamp or perhaps a sacred, bejeweled flag?
Could it be that candle which has no end to its light?
O heart, raise your head. Your eyes are sharp.
Rub your eyes and look carefully.
He is all that you can see.
When you can scatter pearls from Him,
no one will be able to see a trace of you.
Make sure you learn this sign.
It should be a symbol between us.
When you see His blaze and brightness,
go under His wing and be annihilated,
because the valuable egg also stays under the chicken.
When we come forward, He disappears.
But, if we stay away, He appears.
He stands, moves and appears.
But, He doesn’t stand, move or appear in place or time.
He is totally timeless and spaceless.
When you move water,
His light, which is reflected on the water, also moves.
That is the way you can see Him.
But, He is in the sky.
He is not this, not that.
He is the goodness of religion and God.
If you still dare to say He is someone else,
go ahead and say it.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 15, Ghazal 29, verses 353-362, pages 69-70.
Love has arrived and become the blood in my skin and veins.
It has emptied me of my self, filling me with the Beloved.
Every part of my body is now occupied by the Beloved.
Only my name has been left to me.
He has become everything else.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 112.
Just now, ruby-colored tears have started coming from my eyes.
A trace of Love’s dust never appears, but a sign has appeared from Love. Continue reading “I Will Keep Silent (12/1/19)”
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.
“As long as I live, I won’t stray from the right way.”
I gave that oath to myself.
But later, I looked to my right, then to my left,
then to my right, then to my left.
Each time, I saw nothing except the Beloved.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 91.
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 “Who Has Seen… (11/3/19)”
O one who has been deceived by flesh, who doesn’t know His own essence, put your mind in your head.
The Beloved is inside of you.
Senses are the essence of the body. The essence of your senses is your soul.
If you go beyond body, senses and soul, everything is the Beloved.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 71.
Every moment, Your kindness follows after sorrow.
If this were not so, no one could stand this suffering.
Make me constantly drunk with the wine which gives no hangover.
I don’t want any other wine. Continue reading “The Only Way to Reach Eternity (9/22/19)”
Not everyone looks for You.
Nor do You ask that everyone does.
Not every mill wheel turns by the water coming from Your river.
Drawing a strong, tight bow is not for everyone.
For that, one has to be a hero.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, page 77.
Like every other day, we are desperately in Love today.
Don’t open the door of thought.
Play the rebab whose sound makes us forget everything.
There are a hundred different prayers
for the one whose alter is the face of the Beloved.
Rubailer (2016), Rubia #4, page 46.
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.
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
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 “You Are the Antidote…You Are the Bait (7/28/19)”
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 “Stay for Awhile (7/14/19)”
First, He pampered me with a thousand favors.
Then, He burned me with a thousand troubles.
He played with me as if I was nothing more than dice in His game of Love.
But, when I died from myself and became Him, He finally threw me out.
Rubailar (2016), Rubai #3, page 31.
Our heart feels good today,
because You drank its blood yesterday.
May it do You good. Continue reading “The Waves Become Exuberant (3/10/19)”