Why does this dark sorrow blindly entwine my heart?
Is it blind, or does it see blindness in me?
I am in the heights of the sky.
This clay and water body of mine is merely my reflection.
Who could look at a star in the water
and think they could just reach out and take it?
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1290, page 191.
Who is more miserable than an impatient lover?
There is no cure for Love’s sickness.
Goodness and badness don’t help the sorrow of Love.
There is neither fidelity nor cruelty in real, true Love.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1272, page 182.
There is a place beyond faith and heresy
which is not for all the ones
who are just starting out young and fresh.
There is a price to be paid:
One has to give up one’s life and sacrifice one’s heart.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1271, page 182.
I said to the night,
“If you are in love with the moon which enlightens you,
why do you pass through so quickly?
That is no good. It shows disloyalty,
this lack of respect for the moon.”
Night turned its face towards me and protested,
“It is not my fault. There is no end to Love.”
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1255, page 174.
O soul, do you know who your Beloved is?
O heart, do you know who your guest is?
O body which is using every trick to escape,
do you know who is pulling you?
Look and see. He is the one who is searching for you.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1252, page 172.
O Beloved, there is the one who is awake and aware of You.
There is the one who falls asleep
and stays sleeping in the arms of Your grace.
But, in Your universe,
everything and everyone, visible or not, is You.
I am afraid to say more.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Rubai 1244, Volume 3, page 168.
O one who is overcome by his ignorant self
and who doesn’t want to take lessons from others,
all your goodness was limited by leaving a cup next to the fountain.
All you wanted was for the townspeople to drink water
in a toast to your health.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1243, page 168.
O reason, go away. There is no one reasonable here.
This place is only for lovers.
Even if you were to become as thin as a strand of hair,
you would not fit here.
Now that the dawn has come and the Sun of Love is rising,
your lamp of reason will face nothing but ridicule here.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1240, page 166.
At the boundary of our comprehension,
these skies, galaxies and innumerable stars
are only a worthless staff in God’s powerful hand.
Every particle, every drop appears and disappears
like a dolphin, a seal, a whale.
Even if a particle were to appear as big as a whale,
it would still be the tiniest of fish in God’s ocean.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1236, page 164.
This clay body of mine is the glass for the heart.
My best thought is merely the raw wine of the heart.
A tiny grain of knowledge is nothing but a trap for the heart.
I am saying these words, but they come from the heart.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1235, page 164.