The Beloved came with that wine glass like a torch in His hand.
“Come,” He said. “Be my friend.”
“How nice,” I answered. “I will, right away.” Continue reading “Plunge into God’s Sea (7/30/2023)”
Plunge into God’s Sea (7/30/2023)
Reading Rumi
If I Had Known (7/23/2023)
If I had known my own value,
I would not have fooled around with this dirty world.
I would have emptied myself from self and ascended quickly.
I would have raised my head above the ninth level of the sky.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 475.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1456, Volume 4.
Tell Us (7/16/2023)
O one whose heart is full of words, yet remains silent,
Read the chapter, Hel Eta, in the Quran.*
Read the epigram, La Feta.**
Put on the tent of soul at the top of the sky.
Raise the waves from the sea of the heart.
Tear the bag of existence.
Let those two or three water carriers go. Continue reading “Tell Us (7/16/2023)”
You are Smiling at My Words (7/9/2023)
If hundreds of long days were joined together
as one very long day,
my soul would not complain about it.
On the contrary, it would be content.
It would stand still and cry from the pain of Love.
You are smiling at my words,
because you are still a cold man of knowledge,
not a crazy man of Love.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 469.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall 2023), Rubai 1003, Volume 3.
No One Knows (7/2/2023)
All the Universe is burned by the fire of sorrow,
but sorrow’s fire is not apparent.
Who has ever seen the shape of this fire?
Man’s Heart is Like a Candle (6/25/2023)
Man’s heart is like a candle; It should be lit and allowed to shine.
There is a void in your soul because of the separation from the Beloved.
That void needs repair.
Know, O ignorant one
who knows none of what makes or breaks a heart, who avoids pain and burning,
Love is something to be encountered, not knowledge to be learned.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 468
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1002, Volume 3.
Stubbornly Insistent (6/18/2023)
I have this burning desire to reach You, to meet You.
That desire is making me stubbornly insistent.
In order to reach Your fervor, I offer this unfaithful soul. Continue reading “Stubbornly Insistent (6/18/2023)”
Why Don’t You…? (6/11/2023)
The Beloved said to me,
“Since you are buying kisses from every beauty,
why don’t you buy one from Me?”
I asked, “With gold?”
“No,” He said. “What can I do with gold?”
So I tried again, “With my life?”
“Yes, yes,” He said. “That’s what I want, yes.”
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 464.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (fall2023), Volume 3, Rubai 988.
This Situation is Bad (6/4/2023)
This stone will be split open if it desires Union with You.
If my soul feels Your Joy, it will grow wings and fly to the sky.
Now, the fire melts and becomes water.
Reason loses its balance and falls. Continue reading “This Situation is Bad (6/4/2023)”
How Could I? (5/28/2023)
You are in my eyes.
If this were not so, how could I see You?
You are in my mind.
If this were not so, how could I be an insane lover?
There is a wondrous place, although I don’t know where it is.
But, if there were not that place, how could I be there?
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 460.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 985, Volume 3.