Being in God’s Vicinity (5/24/2020)
This solitude is better than the company of thousands.
This freedom is sweeter than owning the whole world.
Being in God’s vicinity for even a short time
is worth more than the soul, more than the universe,
more than all of this, more than all of that.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 167.
This is the Day of Joy (4/12/2020)
This is the day of joy. Why should we be sad?
Today, we should drink wine from the cup of loyalty.
How long will we expect our sustenance
to be from a bread-maker, a water-carrier?
This is the time to be eating and drinking
from the hand of God.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 205.
The Only Way to Reach Eternity (9/22/19)
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
“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
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
Hundreds of Jars of Wine (9/23/18)
Your Love has made me drunk.
I am so drunk and out of myself that I keep clapping my hands.
How could I possibly know what I am doing? 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 Shrill Pipe of Love (6/3/18)
You are coming our way. You are a decent person.
We are also nice.
In appearance we look like fire,
but we are the Fountain of Life for you.
You are a small pigeon. You were born in this nest.
If you don’t come this way on your own, we will pull you by force.
Be in our temple. We are in the temple of that Beauty,
becoming drunk on His wine, the wine that comes only from Him.
We stand at our place like a mountain, but we flow like a torrent.
We keep silent like that, but sometimes yell and scream like thunder.
Although like fate we kill people for no reason,
you have a soul that resembles the sea.
Put it in your palm and come to us.
Our part of ownership of these five senses is only a short five days.
But, there are six dimensions and we are a sultan in each one of them.
We are following the shrill pipe of Love.
Our breath is sharp. Our voice caresses the soul,
because we keep playing the vessel of the soul, crying for you.
You concern yourself with the matters of Love.
If you are sincere, don’t look for a bed and a pillow.
We have welcomed this illness caused by our desire to reach the Mine.
We haven’t welcomed it out of love for a bed and pillow.
The light of the sky, the praise of Tebriz is our Shamseddin.
Because of that Sun, our insides have turned out to be the sky
and the self has become the Moon.
Divan-i Kebir, Meter 10, Gazel 71, Verses 749-757, Pages 155-156.
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
Your True Thirst (4/8/18)
You eat kebab and drink wine.
But, know this well: You are eating and drinking in a dream created by you.
Once you wake up, you will still be hungry and thirsty.
The water you drink in your dream will never satisfy your true thirst.
Rubailer, Page 457, Rubai #1
As Long As Water Flows (2/25/18)
You are satisfied, but I haven’t had enough of this drink.
I am annihilated, but you are still alive.
The millstone turns and cries quietly
As long as water flows through the canal.
Rubailer, Page 432, Rubai #1
Such a Sun (2/4/18)
O Charmer who constantly brings forth the Water of Life,
where is the source of the water You bring?
Really, this time You have brought the One who adds Soul to soul. Continue reading
There is… No Remedy … Except You (11/26/17)
O my Life who adds Soul to my soul, lift the curtain.
O One who takes care of my grief, who is willing to stay with me all night long!
O One who hears my cries, timely and untimely!
O One who puts fire into every atom of my being! 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
Bees Don’t Make His Honey (10/15/17)
Before wine, the vineyard or the grape ever existed in this world,
our soul was drunk with everlasting wine, with God’s wine.
Before this hide and seek,
before Mansur* said that secret word, made that subtle point,
we kept saying, “I am God,” in the Baghdad of this world. 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
“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
“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
That’s How Sweet It Is (6/11/17)
He said, “Let me offer soul’s wine to you,
so you won’t be oppressed with anxiety and sorrow.
Never mind sorrow.
Every merry one will pledge joy to you.
Gamble with Your Life (4/23/17)
Gamble with your life. Take every chance you can.
You can’t reach His union by talking.
They don’t serve milk to drunks by the glass of Sharia.*
In the place where wine is served, they pour it only to those
who have undressed from the “self.”
Not even a drop is given to those who worship themselves.
*Sharia – Moral code and religious law associated with Islam.
Rubailer, Page 161, Rubai #4
Yes, that door will be opened in the end.
Yes, in the end, that silver-bodied charmer will appear, show his face. Continue reading
You Are the Only One (12/12/16)
You are the only one with us from the beginning of the beginning, O Love.
Tell us the secrets one by one; You are in the same house as we are. Continue reading
Where Is Our End? (12/4/16)
The wine which is forbidden to the body
is served to the soul of the one who is free from the body’s bondage.
Until the last drop, don’t say, “This is the end.”
Who knows where our beginning is? Likewise, where is our end?
Rubailer, Page 274, Rubai #4
Exaltation and Instigation (7/24/16)
I catch Your fragrance from the tall symmetry of the cypress.
I almost see the color of Your face in the moon.
Every sugarcane comes to Your temple to wear the belt of service.
Every bit of sugar comes to be a servant in Your halva. Continue reading
I Give Everything (7/10/16)
Do not be ashamed, O hopeless lover.
Come and be a person who can see things along with their Essence.
Do not be the one who looks at everything, but never sees Essence. Continue reading
Watch the Endless Heart (4/17/16)
You color yourself with the color of the community.
Taste the pleasure of the soul: Come to the neighborhood of our tavern
And watch the ones who drink heavy wine. Continue reading
How Could Stumpy-Tailed Words… (3/6/16)
Wake up from sleep. Jump.
Look: A brand new morning is coming, dancing and tapping his feet, asking for friends.
The brand new morning is coming from the sky. Continue reading
That Is Enough for You (1/17/16)
You and His trouble, O heart, that is enough for you.
If you have fallen into the trouble of Love, the soul becomes a servant and slave for you.
Once you drink a glass of wine from His hand,
You won’t give a dime for a thousand kingdoms.
Ergin, Rubailar, Verse #4, Page 413