How Can You Look for the Unknown? (3/17/2024)

How Can You Look for the Unknown? (3/17/2024)

O heart, what kind of stories, what kind of adventures

are you looking for?

O heart, if you are looking for Me,

don’t you know that I am with you?

If you haven’t seen Me,

how can you look for the unknown, the unseen?

If you have seen Me, why are you still looking?

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 433.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, the Ergin Translations (pub.2024), Volume 3, Rubai 1100.

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.

My Foundation, My Essence (4/2/2023)

O my Crescent of Eid,*

show Yourself, so that Eid sees the real Eid.

O my invisible moon-faced One, show Yourself.

Pull the ear of the moon.

 

O my existence, my Absence,

O my rage and my contentment, Continue reading “My Foundation, My Essence (4/2/2023)”

You are Excused (1/29/2023)

You are Excused (1/29/2023)

O one who wants to experience the world and everything in it,

you are a day laborer.

O one who dreams of heaven, you are far from the Truth.

O one who enjoys both those worlds because of ignorance,

you haven’t tasted the pleasure of His sorrow.

You are excused, and you may leave.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 438.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 7/2023), Rubai 933, volume 3.

On the Way of Love (10/16/2022)

What harm could a cross-eyed one do to beauty such as yours?

Should an insane lover be ashamed of having a bad reputation?

When riding the ambling horse on the way of Love,

who cares about some lame old donkey?

Rubailer (2016), rubai 3, page 418.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 7/2023), rubai 904, volume 2.

What are You Looking for? (8/28/2022)

What are you looking for in the village of your illusions?
Why are you washing your eye with the blood of your heart?
All your being, head to toe, is God.
O ignorant one who doesn’t yet know Himself,
what are you looking for besides You?
Rubailer (2016), rubai 1, page 388.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.7/2023), rubai 890 (volume 2).

I was Amazed (10/11/2020)

I was Amazed (10/11/2020)

When I was drinking wine in Your tavern one day,

I started ripping off this cloak of mine, this cloak made of clay.

In Your tavern, I saw the harmony in its workings

and in the workings of the Universe.

There was such a balance of creation and destruction.

I was amazed.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, page 326.