Drunkenness is sending its greeting to You,
is sending news to You secretly.
The one whose heart You grabbed is making his soul a slave to You. Continue reading “Your End is to Realize the Truth (6/8/2025)”
One the Fire of the Heart blazes,
it burns the faithful as well as the unfaithful.
Once the Bird of Essence flies, all of existence disappears Continue reading “Drunk with the Wine of Eternity (5/25/2025)”
Who is more miserable than an impatient lover?
There is no cure for Love’s sickness.
Goodness and badness don’t help the sorrow of Love.
There is neither fidelity nor cruelty in real, true Love.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1272, page 182.
How long will I be suffering because of this donkey of a body?
It keeps asking constantly for straw and barley.
Yet in the sky, the galaxy of the Milky Way is full of nourishment.
A donkey can’t have a share of that glory.
It is the soul, that peerless one, who has a share of that kingdom.
You have seen the body. Now, look at the soul.
You have seen jewels. Now, look at the mine.
Meaning constantly says,
“Don’t dress me in those old clothes.”
Words are really nothing more than old shirts,
the kind of old shirts which everyone makes fun of.
I say, “O meaning, come.
Come in a form like the soul,
so that old shirts can become silk with soul’s light.”
Quit washing clothes, so no one will hear.
Don’t mind how others react or what they say.
This soul is tired.
This soul wants privacy, even from the angels who are close to God.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 1, ghazal 45, verses 615-620, page 117.
I said to the night,
“If you are in love with the moon which enlightens you,
why do you pass through so quickly?
That is no good. It shows disloyalty,
this lack of respect for the moon.”
Night turned its face towards me and protested,
“It is not my fault. There is no end to Love.”
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1255, page 174.
O brother, don’t hurt yourself.
Don’t hit your head against the stones.
You cannot fight with that burned, inflamed self. Continue reading “Give Us Patience (3/16/2025)”
O soul, do you know who your Beloved is?
O heart, do you know who your guest is?
O body which is using every trick to escape,
do you know who is pulling you?
Look and see. He is the one who is searching for you.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1252, page 172.
O reason, go away. There is no one reasonable here.
This place is only for lovers.
Even if you were to become as thin as a strand of hair,
you would not fit here.
Now that the dawn has come and the Sun of Love is rising,
your lamp of reason will face nothing but ridicule here.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1240, page 166.
You hide meaning in death, awakeness in sleep.
You get spring water from stone.
You manifest faithfulness in lightning. Continue reading “Words Coming from Our Secret (12/29/2024)”
O Sultan of our body and soul!
O One who makes us sometimes smile, sometimes grimace,
O One who puts salve on the eyes of our body and soul! Continue reading “Sometimes (10/20/2024)”