O One who keeps me awake with Love,
O One who is the light in the darkness of this life,
I am a harp in Your hands.
You keep plucking my strings, asking,
“Why do you cry?”
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 431.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.7/2023), Rubai 914, Volume 2.
The One who sees everything as permissible
is the soul who has tasted that Divine Wine.
********
The only one who tastes such Wine
is the one who has long shed his own blood.
He bleeds from his lungs, while that Wine rejuvenates them. Continue reading “Hear the Shouts (11/6/2022)”
If you eat less, you will become alert and bright.
If you eat more, you will become foolish and lazy.
Your misery comes from your gluttony.
If you want respect, eat less.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 420.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 7/2023), Rubai 906, volume 2.
Every moment, Your kindness follows after sorrow.
If this were not so, no one could stand this suffering.
Make me constantly drunk
with the wine which gives no hangover.
I don’t want any other wine.
We are the reed bed.
He is the fire, and we are waiting to be burned. Continue reading “The Only Way to Reach Eternity (10/23/2022)”
What harm could a cross-eyed one do to beauty such as yours?
Should an insane lover be ashamed of having a bad reputation?
When riding the ambling horse on the way of Love,
who cares about some lame old donkey?
Rubailer (2016), rubai 3, page 418.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 7/2023), rubai 904, volume 2.
If you were familiar with the wisdom of the Tavern,
worldly knowledge, worldly skills
would mean nothing to you.
If the bird of Nothingness were to cast a shadow on you,
to your eye, the Semurgh* of the world
would seem like a fly. Continue reading “If… (10/9/2022)”
It’s better to be a fool with Love than to be a wise scholar,
better to become dirt on the road than to be a moon in the sky.
Become one with good and bad, young and old.
Be a pawn, then a vizier, then later, a king.
Rubailer (2016), rubai 4, page 391.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 7/2023), rubai 894, volume 2.
Compared to the flesh I have chosen,
everyone else seems to be fine.
Because of my stupidity, I bite my fingers a lot. Continue reading “I Bite My Fingers a Lot (9/25/2022)”
We are the fire of Love which lights that special candle.
Like a candle, we came to burn the oppressed moth.
We attacked bravely like a drunk,
giving up knowledge and reaching into the to-be-known. Continue reading “Look at Us. See Us. Watch Us. (8/4/2022)”
What are you looking for in the village of your illusions?
Why are you washing your eye with the blood of your heart?
All your being, head to toe, is God.
O ignorant one who doesn’t yet know Himself,
what are you looking for besides You?
Rubailer (2016), rubai 1, page 388.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.7/2023), rubai 890 (volume 2).