In truth, there never was an end.

Almost eight hundred years later, the spirits of Shams and Rumi are still alive today,

whirling amid us somewhere...


November 13, 2013

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

October 19, 2013

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

May 30, 2013

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

February 11, 2013

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

December 17, 2012

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


September 30, 2012

Come, come for you will not find- بیا بیا که نیابی



 
Come, come, for you will not find another friend like me.
Where indeed is a Beloved like me in all the world?

Come, come, and do not spend your life in wandering to and fro,
Since there is no market elsewhere for your money.

You are as a dry valley and I as the rain,
You are as a ruined city and I as the architect.

Except my service, which is joy's sunrise,
Man never has felt and never will feel an impression of joy.

You behold in dreams a thousand moving shapes;
When the dream is past you do not see a single one of the kind.

Close the eye that sees falsely and open the intellectual eye,
For the senses resemble an' ass, and evil desire is the halter.

Seek sweet syrup in the garden of Love,
For Nature is a seller of vinegar and a crusher of unripened grapes.

Come to the hospital of your own Creator:
No sick man can dispense with that Physician.

The world without that King is like a headless body:
Fold yourself, turban-wise, round such a head.

Unless you are black, do not let the mirror go from your hand:
The soul is your mirror, while the body is rust.

Where is the fortunate merchant, whose destiny Jupiter controls,
That I may eagerly trade with him and buy his wares?

Come, and think of me who gave you the faculty of thought,
Since from my mine you may purchase an ass-load of rubies.

Come, advance towards him who gave you a foot,
Look with all your eyes on him who gave you all eye.

Clap your hands for joy of him, by whose see the hand (foam) is produced,
For his joy admits no sorrow nor aflliction.

Listen without ears, speak to him without tongue,
Since the speech of the tongue is not without offence and injury.


بیا بیا که نیابی چو ما دگر یاری
چو ما به هر دو جهان خود کجاست دلداری
 
بیا بیا و به هر سوی روزگار مبر
که نیست نقد تو را پیش غیر بازاری
 
تو همچو وادی خشکی و ما چو بارانی
تو همچو شهر خرابی و ما چو معماری
 
به غیر خدمت ما که مشارق شادیست
ندید خلق و نبیند ز شادی آثاری
 
هزار صورت جنبان به خواب می‌بینی
چو خواب رفت نبینی ز خلق دیاری
 
ببند چشم خر و برگشای چشم خرد
که نفس همچو خر افتاد و حرص افساری
 
ز باغ عشق طلب کن عقیده شیرین
که طبع سرکه فروشست و غوره افشاری
 
بیا به جانب دارالشفای خالق خویش
کز آن طبیب ندارد گریز بیماری
 
جهان مثال تن بی‌سرست بی‌آن شاه
بپیچ گرد چنان سر مثال دستاری
 
اگر سیاه نه‌ای آینه مده از دست
که روح آینه توست و جسم زنگاری
 
کجاست تاجر مسعود مشتری طالع
که گرمدار منش باشم و خریداری
 
بیا و فکرت من کن که فکرتت دادم
چو لعل می‌خری از کان من بخر باری
 
به پای جانب آن کس برو که پایت داد
بدو نگر به دو دیده که داد دیداری
 
دو کف به شادی او زن که کف ز بحر ویست
که نیست شادی او را غمی و تیماری
 
تو بی‌ز گوش شنو بی‌زبان بگو با او
که نیست گفت زبان بی‌خلاف و آزاری


By Rumi from Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi