O heart, you are under foot, always in ruins.
You leave your soul to sorrow,
getting so much pleasure from that sorrow.
This time, you have fallen into the fire and I have left you.
Maybe you will become a master through this burning.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 434.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (pub.summer 2024), Volume 3, Rubai 1104.
O breath of spring breeze, O springtime,
I understand from the flowers
that you are also drunk thanks to Him. Continue reading “When Someone Becomes Mortal (4/7/2024)”
Today is the day of celebration,
celebration day, celebration day, celebration day!
Today is the day of glory,
bright day, bright day, bright day!
This Love is being revealed, revealed, revealed!
Today is the day Love is saying goodbye to reason.
Goodbye reason! Goodbye! Goodbye!
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 277.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pubspring2024), Rubai 1364, Volume 3.
Like Moses, the copper of your existence
will become gold through His chemistry.
So, why do you worry? Continue reading “No Way to Escape (3/24/2024)”
O heart, what kind of stories, what kind of adventures
are you looking for?
O heart, if you are looking for Me,
don’t you know that I am with you?
If you haven’t seen Me,
how can you look for the unknown, the unseen?
If you have seen Me, why are you still looking?
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 433.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, the Ergin Translations (pub.2024), Volume 3, Rubai 1100.
My life has passed in the great sweet pain of my heart.
My heart isn’t concerned about that sorrow;
it simply recognizes and accepts it. Continue reading “My Heart (3/10/2024)”
O One who reminded me last night,
reminded me of that moment of exuberance,
reminded me of the forgotten treasure!
How could I ever forget such a blessing?
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 424.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.2024), Volume 3, rubai 1090.
I felt the enemy’s nonsensical talk
down deep in my heart.
I learned what he was thinking about me. Continue reading “I am the One to be Blamed (2/25/2024)”
O one who searches for an escape route,
do you think you control life?
The King is leading you.
Don’t try to make yourself more important than the King.
He is the One who turns the poor one into the King of kings
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 424.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprxpub2024), Rubai 1087, Volume 3.
As Hodja is my witness,
I swear I will not make any vows again.
The glass of the vow is broken
as soon as I drink Love’s wine.
I swear to Your peerless beauty,
Your wine which defeats and ruins lions.
I won’t even get close to repentance.
I swear to Your sweet lips,
to Your heart which knows the secrets,
I am neither fond of this world
nor obliged to colors, to red and yellow.
I swear to Your sun-like face
and to the true value of Your words
that I am a thousand years
beyond the hot and cold of this world.
I swear to Your mind
which resembles a dark chestnut horse,
Your insignia which offers Soul,
that no one knows what kind of man I am
except You.
I swear to the blessedness of Your morning
and the uproar which comes after morning wine
that I will roll up the sky before I go.
O immortal Sultan, tell the cupbearer
that if someone comes to the assembly with a sour face,
he should serve him the sedimented wine of my sorrow.
That way, duality will disappear.
So will the difference between old and new.
Because at the sacred place of drinking,
I am separated from the crowd.
I am all by myself.
The cupbearer should offer so much wine
that that person becomes drunk, becomes a lover.
That way, he won’t be bothered
by either the echo of my voice or my cool reception.
When he becomes like that,
neither self nor envy will remain within him.
He will come to my playground pure and clean.
He will fly outside of time.
He will free himself from bait and trap.
He will turn himself into a witness
at this gambling place, without quarrel.
He will play with a clean heart like Venus.
He will submit himself to fate like dice,
saying neither, “I won,” nor “I lost.”
I will remain silent from now on.
I am neither nightingale nor parrot.
I am sugar.
I am a rose sapling.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 22, Ghazal 24, verses 216-228, pages 51-53.