If I had known my own value,
I would not have fooled around with this dirty world.
I would have emptied myself from self and ascended quickly.
I would have raised my head above the ninth level of the sky.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 475.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1456, Volume 4.
You are in my eyes.
If this were not so, how could I see You?
You are in my mind.
If this were not so, how could I be an insane lover?
There is a wondrous place, although I don’t know where it is.
But, if there were not that place, how could I be there?
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 460.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 985, Volume 3.
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)”
O heart, what did you find in all of your lootings,
in those pillagings where you spread out all of your belongings?
What did you find before you closed the door?
In this ruined building, you still keep making webs with your own saliva
in order to catch flies like the spider of greed. Continue reading “Sometimes (11/20/2022)”
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.
We are the reed bed.
He is the fire, and we are waiting to be burned. Continue reading “The Only Way to Reach Eternity (10/23/2022)”
If you were familiar with the wisdom of the Tavern,
worldly knowledge, worldly skills
would mean nothing to you.
If the bird of Nothingness were to cast a shadow on you,
to your eye, the Semurgh* of the world
would seem like a fly. Continue reading “If… (10/9/2022)”
We are the fire of Love which lights that special candle.
Like a candle, we came to burn the oppressed moth.
We attacked bravely like a drunk,
giving up knowledge and reaching into the to-be-known. Continue reading “Look at Us. See Us. Watch Us. (8/4/2022)”
When my soul becomes a mirror to the secrets,
I can remain silent, yet cannot help but to know them. Continue reading “Listen to My Straight Talk (6/26/2022)”
One cannot reflect our fire,
nor can one articulate the secrets of our heart.
Our early morning sighs are not confidants with whom we share our troubles,
nor is a friendly soul even to be found to hear those sighs.
We are not the pearl which has been found in the sea,
nor are we a sea which ever rests.
We are not the meaning which comes from words,
nor are we words which can be said.
Language is like a canal for meanings.
But, how could such a sea fit in this canal?
Every piece of the soul’s world makes a new world,
but such a new world could never fit in someone’s mouth.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 19, ghazal 269, verses 2756-2761, page 121.
My soul is in the heart of the people who remain always soul.
They are like roses, knowing nothing but kindness.
Everyone has some content.
We are like chips of gold. They are like gold mines.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 358.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx. pub. 5/2022), Rubai 783, Volume 2.