Beyond the Hot & Cold of this World (2/11/2024)

Beyond the Hot & Cold of this World (2/11/2024)

As Hodja is my witness,

I swear I will not make any vows again.

The glass of the vow is broken

as soon as I drink Love’s wine.

 

I swear to Your peerless beauty,

Your wine which defeats and ruins lions.

I won’t even get close to repentance.

 

I swear to Your sweet lips,

to Your heart which knows the secrets,

I am neither fond of this world

nor obliged to colors, to red and yellow.

 

I swear to Your sun-like face

and to the true value of Your words

that I am a thousand years

beyond the hot and cold of this world.

 

I swear to Your mind

which resembles a dark chestnut horse,

Your insignia which offers Soul,

that no one knows what kind of man I am

except You.

 

I swear to the blessedness of Your morning

and the uproar which comes after morning wine

that I will roll up the sky before I go.

 

O immortal Sultan, tell the cupbearer

that if someone comes to the assembly with a sour face,

he should serve him the sedimented wine of my sorrow.

 

That way, duality will disappear.

So will the difference between old and new.

Because at the sacred place of drinking,

I am separated from the crowd.

I am all by myself.

 

The cupbearer should offer so much wine

that that person becomes drunk, becomes a lover.

That way, he won’t be bothered

by either the echo of my voice or my cool reception.

 

When he becomes like that,

neither self nor envy will remain within him.

He will come to my playground pure and clean.

 

He will fly outside of time.

He will free himself from bait and trap.

He will turn himself into a witness

at this gambling place, without quarrel.

 

He will play with a clean heart like Venus.

He will submit himself to fate like dice,

saying neither, “I won,” nor “I lost.”

 

I will remain silent from now on.

I am neither nightingale nor parrot.

I am sugar.

I am a rose sapling.

Divan-i Kebir, Volume 22, Ghazal 24, verses 216-228, pages 51-53.

Don’t Make Me Talk with You through that Curtain (1/28/2024)

Don’t Make Me Talk with You through that Curtain (1/28/2024)

Since I am the slave of the Sun,

I should talk only about the Sun.

I am not the night and don’t worship the night.

Why should I talk about dreams? Continue reading “Don’t Make Me Talk with You through that Curtain (1/28/2024)”

On the Way to the Beloved’s Love (1/21/2024)

On the Way to the Beloved’s Love (1/21/2024)

You won’t taste ecstasy as long as you are sober.

You won’t know the soul if you stay in your body.

You will never reach the Truth

if you are not annihilated

like fire and water mixed together

on the way to the Beloved’s Love.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 450.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (ApprxPubSpring2024), Rubai 1083, Volume 3.

The Pain in My Heart (8/6/2023)

The Pain in My Heart (8/6/2023)

If the pain in my heart were reflected outside,

every particle’s face would be darkened by sorrow.

If it found the way to my Essence,

that drunkenness, that agitation

would turn every drop into an ocean.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 473.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1013, Vol.3

Greetings of the Heart (1/22/2023)

Greetings of the Heart (1/22/2023)

In order to hear the greetings of the heart,

I knocked on its door one night.

 

The glitter of that moonlight reflected on the eye and heart of the road.

After that, the brilliance sparkled endlessly. Continue reading “Greetings of the Heart (1/22/2023)”

Not Even a Small Part of This Comes from the Sky (11/21/2021)

Not Even a Small Part of This Comes from the Sky (11/21/2021)

Is there a lip from which the smell of soul isn’t coming right now?

Is there a particle of the heart in which a trace of Him doesn’t reside?

 

If there are no provisions coming from that famous table,

why is every particle chewing cud like a camel? Continue reading “Not Even a Small Part of This Comes from the Sky (11/21/2021)”