Walk Nicely Now (3/28/2021)

Walk Nicely Now (3/28/2021)

Ascend to the sky from this banal world.

Your soul will be blessed if you do.

Walk nicely now.

 

Yes, you have jumped out from this town which is so full of sickness and shivering.

Now, make your home the land of happiness and joy.

 

If the painting of your body is destroyed, return to the Painter.

If your flesh is decayed, be content with being pure soul.

 

If your face is withered because of death,

settle down in the purple-colored tulip garden.

 

If they close the door of the house on you,

come up from the roof. Become your own ladder.

 

If you are separated from friends and relatives,

if you find yourself all alone,

become the King of the Auspicious Conjunction,*

acquainted with God’s friendship.

 

If you are separated from bread and water,

turn into the kind of bread

which gives power directly to hearts and souls.

*Refers to at least one Mughal king who claimed he was born under the auspicious conjunction of Jupiter and Venus.

Divan-i Kebir, Volume 18, Ghazal 189, verses 18821-1887, page 148.

When I Look (3/21/2021)

When I Look (3/21/2021)

How long will I be satisfied by the shapes and appearances of time?

How long will I watch and smell of existence?

I am tired of the materials and creatures of the present.

It is time to see that Beauty of Beauties.

But, when I look at Him, I see my image.

When I look at my image, I see His.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, page 316.

Many Think This is Easy (10/18/2020)

Many Think This is Easy (10/18/2020)

One should not try to avoid Him for even one moment.

Only ruin and wreckage come from being distance!

 

You say, “What could happen? I could come back.”

You could, but only if your heart opens its door again. Continue reading “Many Think This is Easy (10/18/2020)”

Songs and Screams (6/28/2020)

Songs and Screams (6/28/2020)

Every night, the specter of my Beauty praises the attributes of my Essence

and talks about the Absence of my Essence which proves my Existence.

 

The Sultan of chess of the seven stars sends a sign

from His ayn*-like eye and cim-like ear which checkmates me.

 

If I were to pick an apple from that tree and split it in half,

such an amazing Beauty would be born.

Grapes would cover the whole world.

Wine would overflow all around my gardens.

 

If I took the Quran in my hand and, in confusion, it slipped from my hand,

His face would become ten verses of the Quran

and His lips would turn into a verse for me.

 

The world is Mount Sinai. I am Moses.

I am out of my self. I have gone beyond my self.

The world keeps shaking, but the only one who knows

is the one who walks that road where I paid my dues.

 

The soul’s sun rose and said, “O lazy ones, get up.

When I reflect on the mountain, even my smallest particles keep moving.”

 

Be silent.

I have cried and yelled so much that hundreds of centuries will pass

and the world will still turn along with my songs and screams.

*ayn and cim  Letters of the Arabic alphabet.

Divan-i Kebir, Volume 15, Ghazal 40, verses 459-465, pages 90-91.