Reading Rumi

Do You Know…? (3/9/2025)

Do You Know…? (3/9/2025)

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.

I Am Afraid to Say More (2/23/2025)

I Am Afraid to Say More (2/23/2025)

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.

Ignorant (2/9/2025)

Ignorant (2/9/2025)

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.

Only for Lovers (2/2/2025)

Only for Lovers (2/2/2025)

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.

The Tiniest Fish in God’s Ocean (1/19/2025)

The Tiniest Fish in God’s Ocean (1/19.2025)

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. 

See the Bloody Tears (1/12/2025)

See the Bloody Tears (1/12/2025)

See the bloody tears, the hundreds of torn shirts caused by Your grief.

Listen to all the yelling and screaming.

Look at the blood of my lungs,

smeared all over my face, my back, my front. Continue reading “See the Bloody Tears (1/12/2025)”

From the Heart (1/5/2025)

From the Heart (1/5/2025)

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.