My soul is from elsewhere- Rumi

 

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.
 

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?

 I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.
 

This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.
I don't plan it.
When I'm outside the saying of it, I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

We have a huge barrel of wine, but no cups.
That's fine with us. Every morning,
We glow and in the evening we glow again.

 

-Rumi

The one who finds God

 

If you look around, you can find a face of God in each thing, because He is not hidden in a church, in a mosque, or a synagogue, but everywhere. As there is no one who lives after seeing him, there is also no one dying after seeing him. Who finds Him, stays forever with him.

-Shams Tabrizi

Without pure wine- Omar Khayyam

 

 

Without pure wine I cannot exist;
Without the elixir of grape I cannot persist.

I am captive to the moment when the cup-bearer says,
"Have another cup," and I am content to resist.

 

 

 

من بی می ناب زیستن نتوانم

بی باده کشید بارتن نتوانم

من بنده آن دمم که ساقی گوید

یک جام دگر بگیر و من نتوانم

I serve that orb- Rumi

I serve that orb,
Say no word but Orb!
Speak to me of nothing
But sweetness and light
Not of bother, but of treasure
And if you cannot find the words
Don’t bother.

Yesterday a craze came over me
Love saw, came up to me:
Here I am,
Don’t shout,
Don’t rip your shirt,
Hush, shh!

I spoke:
Love, I’m scared of that other thing
(Love said:)
There is no other thing, say nothing!
I will whisper secrets in your ear
You just nod in asseveration
Speak in semaphore

A nova, a celestial love
Burst bright above the heartpath
So exquisite the quest of heart,
It cannot be expressed
I asked:
Heart, what orb is this?
Heart intimated:
Beyond fathom
Be quiet, forget!
Is this the face of man or angel?
Beyond men and angels
Hush!

What is it? Tell me, I’m in a whirl
Whirl on, keep quiet!
You sit within this room
Whose walls reflect
Mere forms and suppositions
Get up, go out, move on,
Keep quiet!

I said:
Heart, befather me,
For doesn’t this match God’s description?
Yes, my son, it does,
But do not tell.

 

من غلام قمرم غیر قمر هیچ مگو

پیش من جز سخن شمع و شکر هیچ مگو

 

سخن رنج مگو جز سخن گنج مگو

ور از این بی‌خبری رنج مبر هیچ مگو

 

دوش دیوانه شدم عشق مرا دید و بگفت

آمدم نعره مزن جامه مدر هیچ مگو

 

گفتم ای عشق من از چیز دگر می‌ترسم

گفت آن چیز دگر نیست دگر هیچ مگو

 

من به گوش تو سخن‌های نهان خواهم گفت

سر بجنبان که بلی جز که به سر هیچ مگو

 

قمری جان صفتی در ره دل پیدا شد

در ره دل چه لطیف است سفر هیچ مگو

 

گفتم ای دل چه مه‌ست این دل اشارت می‌کرد

که نه اندازه توست این بگذر هیچ مگو

 

گفتم این روی فرشته‌ست عجب یا بشر است

گفت این غیر فرشته‌ست و بشر هیچ مگو

 

گفتم این چیست بگو زیر و زبر خواهم شد

گفت می‌باش چنین زیر و زبر هیچ مگو

 

ای نشسته تو در این خانه پرنقش و خیال

خیز از این خانه برو رخت ببر هیچ مگو

 

گفتم ای دل پدری کن نه که این وصف خداست

گفت این هست ولی جان پدر هیچ مگو

LOVE IS THE MASTER

Love is the One who masters all things;
I am mastered totally by Love.
By my passion of love for Love
I have ground sweet as sugar.
O furious Wind, I am only a straw before you;
How could I know where I will be blown next?
Whoever claims to have made a pact with Destiny
Reveals himself a liar and a fool;
What is any of us but a straw in a storm?
How could anyone make a pact with a hurricane?
God is working everywhere his massive Resurrection;
How can we pretend to act on our own?
In the hand of Love I am like a cat in a sack;
Sometimes Love hoists me into the air,
Sometimes Love flings me into the air,
Love swings me round and round His head;
I have no peace, in this world or any other.
The lovers of God have fallen in a furious river;
They have surrendered themselves to Love's commands.
Like mill wheels they turn, day and night, day and night,
Constantly turning and turning, and crying out.

 

-Rumi

The wedding night

Mowlana Jalal-Al-Din Rumi passed away on Dec 17, 1273. This date is known as Shab-i Arus (Wedding Night). Every year the 17th of December is celebrated as the night of Rumi's reunion with his Beloved.

When I die

when my coffin

is being taken out

you must never think

I am missing this world

don’t shed any tears

don’t lament or

feel sorry

I’m not falling

into a monster’s abyss

when you see

my corpse is being carried

don’t cry for my leaving

I’m not leaving

I’m arriving at eternal love

when you leave me

in the grave

don’t say goodbye

remember a grave is

only a curtain

for the paradise behind

you’ll only see me

descending into a grave

now watch me rise

how can there be an end

when the sun sets or

the moon goes down

it looks like the end

it seems like a sunset

but in reality it is a dawn

when the grave locks you up

that is when your soul is freed

have you ever seen

a seed fallen to earth

not rise with a new life

why should you doubt the rise

of a seed named human

have you ever seen

a bucket lowered into a well

coming back empty

why lament for a soul

when it can come back

like Joseph from the well

when for the last time

you close your mouth

your words and soul

will belong to the world of

no place no time.

 

-Rumi

A gift of Love -Rumi