Ghazal 322

I have come so that, tugging your ear, I may draw you to me,
unheart and unself you, plant you in my heart and soul.
Rosebush, I have come a sweet springtide unto you, to seize
you very gently in my embrace and squeeze you.
I have come to adorn you in this worldly abode, to convey you
above the skies like lovers' prayers.
I have come because you stole a kiss from an idol fair; give it
back with a glad heart, master, for I will seize you back.
What is a mere rose? You are the All*, you are the speaker of
the command "Say"*. If no one else knows you, since you are I, I
know you.
You are my soul and spirit, you are my Fatiha-chanter*, be-
come altogether the Fatiha, so that I may chant you in my heart.
You are my quarry and game, though you have sprung from
the snare; return to the snare, and if you will not, I will drive
you.
The lion said to me, “You are a wonderous deer; be gone! Why
do you run in my wake so swiftly? I will tear you to pieces.”
Accept my blow, and advance like a hero's shield;
give your ear to naught but the bowstring, that I may bend you
like a bow.
So many thousand stages there are from earth's bounds to
man; I have brought you from city to city, I will not leave you by
the roadside.
Say nothing, froth not, do not raise the lid of the cauldron;
simmer well, and be patient, for I am cooking you.
No, for you are a lion's whelp hidden in a deer's body: I will
cause you suddenly to transcend the deer's veil.
You are my ball, and you run in the curved mallet of my
decree; though I am making you to run, I am still running in your track.
* A pun on the Persian “gul” (“rose”) and "kull” (“all”).
* Say: Many passages of the Koran open with the word “say”.
* Fatiha-chanter (Fâtiha-khwân): The “Fatiha” (“Opening”)
is the first chapter of the Koran, containing praise of God
and prayers for guidance. A cantor with an exceptional voice
may chant this chapter in the course of an assembly of
worship. (Additional clarification courtesy of Ibrahim Gamard
and Anna Ghonim.)


Translation by A.J. Arberry
Mystical Poems of Rumi 1
The University of Chicago Press, 1968


Ghazal 586

He who seeks felicity* is one thing, the lover
something else — he who loves his head has not the feet for Love.
How should Love's two fire-filled eyes, drowned
in the liver's blood, search for the heart's desire and the
spirits' subsistence?
The lover does not weep for his sorry state, nor
does he rub his eyes from heartache: He wants to be worse
each instant.
He does not want a day of fortune, nor does he
seek a night of ease — his heart stays concealed between night
and day like dawn.
The world has two nests: good fortune and
affliction — by God's Holy Essence, the lover is outside them
both!
The ocean does not make him boil, for he is
unparalleled pearl. His face has not come from the mine, even
if it is yellow like gold.
In love with the spirit's King, how should the
heart seek a kingdom? Enraptured by His slender waist, how
should the spirit seek a robe of honor?
Should a phoenix enter the world, the lover
would not seek its shadow, for he is drunk with love for that
famous Phoenix.
If the world should become all sugar, his heart
would still lament like the reed; and if the Beloved should say
"No!" he will still melt like sugar.
I asked my Lord about Shams al-Din of Tabriz,
whose permanent abode is Love: "Why should such a king go
on a journey?"

Translation by William C. Chittick
The Sufi Path of Love
SUNY Press Albany, 1984


Ghazal 838

if you pass your night
and merge it with dawn
for the sake of heart
what do you think will happen

if the entire world
is covered with the blossoms
you have labored to plant
what do you think will happen

if the elixir of life
that has been hidden in the dark
fills the desert and towns
what do you think will happen

if because of
your generosity and love
a few humans find their lives
what do you think will happen

if you pour an entire jar
filled with joyous wine
on the head of those already drunk
what do you think will happen

go my friend
bestow your love
even on your enemies
if you touch their hearts
what do you think will happen
Translated by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Fountain of Fire
Cal-Earth, September 1994


Ghazal 947

don't go to sleep
this night
one night is worth
a hundred thousand souls

the night is generous
it can give you
a gift of the full moon
it can bless your soul
with endless treasure

every night when you feel
the world is unjust
never ending grace
descends from the sky
to soothe your souls

the night is not crowded like the day
the night is filled with eternal love
take this night
tight in your arms
as you hold a sweetheart

remember the water of life
is in the dark caverns
don't be like a big fish
stopping the life's flow
by standing in the mouth of a creek

even Mecca is adornedwith black clothes
showing that the heavens
are ready to grace
the human soul

even one prayer
in the Mecca of a night
is like a hundred
no one can claim
sleep can build
a temple like this

during a night
the blessed prophet
broke all the idols and
God remained alone
to give equally to all
an endless love

Translated by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Fountain of Fire
Cal-Earth, September 1994



Ghazal 2133

wake up, wake up
this night is gone
wake up


abandon abandon
even your dear self
abandon


there is an idiot
in our market place
selling a precious soul


if you doubt my word
get up this moment
and head for the market now


don’t listen to trickery
don’t listen to the witches
don’t wash blood with blood


first turn yourself upside down
empty yourself like a cup of wine
then fill to the brim with the essence


a voice is descending
from the heavens
a healer is coming


if you desire healing
let yourself fall ill
let yourself fall ill


Translated by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Fountain of Fire
Cal-Earth, September 1994



Ghazal 2309

you are drunk
and i'm intoxicated
no one is around
showing us the way home


again and again
i told you
drink less
a cup or two


i know in this city
no one is sober
one is worse than the other
one is frenzied and
the other gone mad


come on my friend
step into the tavern of ruins
taste the sweetness of life
in the company of another friend


here you'll see
at every corner
someone intoxicated
and the cup-bearer
makes her rounds


i went out of my house
a drunkard came to me
someone whose glance
uncovered a hundred
houses in paradise


rocking and rolling
he was a sail
with no anchor but
he was the envy of all those sober ones
remaining on the shore


where are you from i asked
he smiled in mockery and said
one half from the east
one half from the west
one half made of water and earth
one half made of heart and soul
one half staying at the shores and
one half nesting in a pearl


i begged
take me as your friend
i am your next of kin
he said i recognize no kin
among strangers
i left my belongings and
entered this tavern
i only have a chest
full of words
but can't utter
a single one


Translated by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Fountain of Fire
Cal-Earth, September 1994


“Chinese Art and Greek Art”

The Prophet said, “There are some who see Me
by the same Light in which I am seeing them.
Our natures are ONE.
Without reference to any strands
of lineage, without reference to texts or traditions,
we drink the Life-Water together.”
Here's a story
about that hidden mystery:
The Chinese and the Greeks
were arguing as to who were the better artists.
The King said,
“We'll settle this matter with a debate.”
The Chinese began talking,
but the Greeks wouldn't say anything.
They left.
The Chinese suggested then
that they each be given a room to work on
with their artistry, two rooms facing each other
and divided by a curtain.
The Chinese asked the King
for a hundred colors, all the variations,
and each morning they came to where
the dyes were kept and took them all.
The Greeks took no colors.
“They're not part of our work,”
They went to their room
and began cleaning and polishing the walls. All day
every day they made those walls as pure and clear
as an open sky.
There is a way that leads from all-colors
to colorlessness. Know that the magnificent variety
of the clouds and the weather comes from
the total simplicity of the sun and the moon.

The Chinese finished, and they were so happy.
They beat the drums in the joy of completion.

The King entered their room,
astonished by the gorgeous color and detail.

The Greeks then pulled the curtain dividing the rooms.
The Chinese figures and images shimmeringly reflected
on the clear Greek walls. They lived there,
even more beautifully, and always
changing in the light.

The Greek art is the Sufi way.
They don't study books of philosophical thought.

They make their loving clearer and clearer.
No wantings, no anger. In that purity
they receive and reflect the images of every moment,
from here, from the stars, from the void.

They take them in
as though they were seeing
with the Lighted Clarity
that sees them.

Mathnawi, I, 3462-3485, 3499
Coleman Barks
Delicious Laughter
Maypop, June 1990
(Based on Nicholson's translation of the Mathnawi, IV, 2683-2696.)


“Keep Searching”

Even though you're not equipped,
keep searching:
equipment isn't necessary on the way to the Lord.
Whoever you see engaged in search,
become her friend and cast your head in front of her,
for choosing to be a neighbor of seekers,
you become one yourself;
protected by conquerors,
you will yourself learn to conquer.
If an ant seeks the rank of Solomon,
don't smile contemptuously upon its quest.
Everything you possess of skill, and wealth and handicraft,
wasn't it first merely a thought and a quest?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Garcheh âlat nistet to mi talab
nist âlat hâjat andar râh-e Rabb
Harke-râ bini talab-gâr ay pesar
yâr-e u shaw pish-e u andâz sar
Kaz jevâr-e tâlebân tâleb shavi
vaz zelâl-e ghâlebân ghâleb shavi
Gar yeki muri Solaymân be-jost
ma-negar andar jostan-e u sost sost
Harcheh dâri to ze mâl o pisheh-'i
nah talab bud avval va andisheh-'i?

Mathnawi III: 1445-1449
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)


“The Window of My Soul”

During prayer I am accustomed to turn to God like this
and recall the meaning of the words of the Tradition,
“the delight felt in the ritual prayer.”*
The window of my soul opens,
and from the purity of the unseen world,
the book of God comes to me straight.
The book, the rain of divine grace, and the light
are falling into my house through a window
from my real and original source.
The house without a window is hell;
to make a window is the essence of true religion.
Don't thrust your ax upon every thicket;
come, use your ax to cut open a window.

*The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing upon him) is said to
have mentioned this as one of the three things he loved best in the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Khuy dâram dar namâz ân eltefât
ma`nâ “qurrat `ayni fi al-salât”*
Rawzan-e jânam goshâdast az safâ
mi resad bi vâseteh nâmeh-ye Khodâ
Nameh o bârân o nur az rawzanam
mi fotad dar khâneh-'am az ma`denam
Duzakhast ân khâneh k-ân bi rawzanast
asl-e din ay bandeh rawzan kardanast
Tisheh har bisheh kam zan biyâ
tisheh zan dar kandan rawzan halâ

Mathnawi III: 2401-2405
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)


“The Many Wines”

God has given us a dark wine so potent that,
drinking it, we leave the two worlds.


God has put into the form of hashish a power
to deliver the taster from self-consciousness.


God has made sleep so that
it erases every thought.


God made Majnun love Layla so much that
just her dog would cause confusion in him.


There are thousands of wines
that can take over our minds.


Don't think all ecstacies
are the same!


Jesus was lost in his love for God.
His donkey was drunk with barley.


Drink from the presence of saints,
not from those other jars.


Every object, every being,
is a jar full of delight.


Be a connoisseur,
and taste with caution.


Any wine will get you high.
Judge like a king, and choose the purest,


the ones unadulterated with fear,
or some urgency about "what's needed."


Drink the wine that moves you
as a camel moves when it's been untied,
and is just ambling about.


Coleman Barks
One-Handed Basket Weaving
Maypop, October 1992
(Based on Nicholson's translation of the Mathnawi, IV, 2683-2696.)

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