If all I have made are mistakes and You are my only right, that is enough for me.
You are the only meaning of my ruined, wrecked life.
At the time of my leaving this world,
if they ask me, “What did you do?”
I will answer, “You.” And, that is enough for me.
Rubaiyat (2016), Rubai 3, page 454.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. fall 2023), Rubai 967, Volume 3.
Where are you, O God’s martyrs,
O ones who looked for trouble in the Karbala* desert?
Where are you, O impatient lovers,
O ones who fly faster than the birds in the sky? Continue reading “Where Are You? (2/20/2022)”
O One who takes the hearts of lovers as hostage,
don’t shed the blood of lovers.Go away.
Look at the traces of blood on every road.
Hear the bloody yells everywhere. Continue reading “This Heart (9/26/2021)”
Your soul is a guest of your body for only a couple of days.
Yet, you have become so attached to this Earth
that you don’t want to listen when I talk about death.
Your soul is longing for that mansion –
that “death before death.”*
Unfortunately, your body’s donkey
has fallen asleep in the middle of the road.
*Total destruction of the self before the death of the body.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 80.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (approx. pub. date 3/2022), Rubai 108, Volume 1.
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 Rumi, The Ergin Translation (pub. 11/2021)
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 unit of weight.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 298.
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.
If the painting of your body is destroyed, return to the Painter.
If your flesh is decayed, be content with being pure soul.
If your face is withered because of death,
settle down in the purple-colored tulip garden.
If they close the door of the house on you,
come up from the roof. Become your own ladder.
If you are separated from friends and relatives,
if you find yourself all alone,
become the King of the Auspicious Conjunction,*
acquainted with God’s friendship.
If you are separated from bread and water,
turn into the kind of bread
which gives power directly to hearts and souls.
*Refers to at least one Mughal king who claimed he was born under the auspicious conjunction of Jupiter and Venus.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 18, Ghazal 189, verses 18821-1887, page 148.
I tried to describe the situation of my heart as I knew it.
The tears and blood of my heart had become rough,
but I couldn’t explain it. Continue reading “The Situation (12/15/19)”
There is a new life in death for the man of faith and justice.
From death, peace and calm come to clean souls.
Death is reaching out to God, not out to fear and cruelty.
The one who refuses to die with that death will die every day.
That is the greatest of all troubles.
Rubailer (2016), Page 101, #2.
Clean souls ascend to the sky.
Turbid souls descend to the valley, are buried in the ground.
Open the eye of your soul and look at souls.
How did they get here?
What happens to them?
Where and how do they go? Continue reading “Look at Souls (10/6/19)”