O heart, you and His troubles are here.
This should be enough for you.
When you fall into the troubles of Love,
the soul becomes your slave and servant.
Once you drink a glass of wine from His hand,
you will no longer care about kingdoms and treasures,
even if the cost is a mere single penny.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 433.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.7/2023), Rubai 920, volume 2.
When you are sober,
the Beloved seems like a thorn to you.
When you are drunk and out of your self,
you see that the Beloved is your greatest helper. Continue reading “When You Are Drunk (7/10/2022)”
You appear every day from that place
and carry water to the thirsty ones.
Every morning You offer light to the Earth.
You are the Soul to the soul of the Sun. Continue reading “So Sweet (3/20/2022)”
O Beloved, You flew away from this narrow cage.
You freed Yourself from this dungeon of robbers and pickpockets.
You cleaned the dirt and dust from the surface of the mirror.
You saw whatever was in that mirror.
You had been hearing, here and there, some news.
You went to that exalted world
and saw that news with Your own eyes.
You left earth and water to the Earth and water.
Then, You took the substance of the soul
and pulled it to the sky.
You became tired of being around the body.
You preferred to go with the soul.
You freed Yourself from the mother womb
which is this world
and ran to the father of intelligence.
Drink the wine which sweetens the soul with every breath
in exchange for the suffering we gave You.
Since You left, the whole Universe has chosen us.
Now, take anything You choose.
You went from this Earth’s saucepan
to the table of the other world,
because You were cooked.
The egg became empty, without a bird,
because you got out of this Earth’s egg
and flew away.
From now on, You will never fit in this world.
Keep flying through it. You like to fly.
Be silent. Go away.
They opened Your lock.
Death matched You for the key.
Divan-i Kebir, Ghazal 230, verses 2350-2361, pages 52-53.
When I was drinking wine in Your tavern one day,
I ripped off this cloak of mine, this cloak made of clay.
In Your now-ruined tavern,
I saw the harmony in its workings
and in the workings of the universe.
There was such balance of creation and destruction.
I was amazed.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 326.
A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (November 2021), Rubai 692 (Volume 2)
The parrot came to the tree to share sugar’s prayer.
The rose asked the nightingale to read poetry.
Receiving a revelation, the tall green cypress said,
“As long as your soul stays in your body,
put a belt on your waist. Serve day and night.
That brings results. Continue reading “That Brings Results (4/25/2021)”
I don’t know how I became annihilated from that wine.
I don’t know where I am because of the beauty of placelessness.
Once I was at the bottom of the sea.
but then I rose like the sun. Continue reading “The Light Calling Out (1/3/2021)”
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)”
Tonight, the cupbearer is serving wine
not by the glass, but by the pitcher.
He has plundered every heart and seized all faith.
He has served so much wine
that a flood has taken away the house of the mind.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 159.
O soul who has been caught in the hook of the body,
look at the fisherman.
Don’t look at the fish hook. Continue reading “Look (11/1/2020)”