If you turn around Saturn,
you become Saturn.
If you turn around a saint, you become a saint.
If you turn around the mine of Truth, you become a ruby.
If you turn around the Beloved,
you become the Essence of Love.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 481.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, the Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1031, Volume 2.
Is there no music, no merrymaking for this lover
to help him attain his desire, to get his troubles to settle down?
In the morning, because of his separation,
he was frightened by daily troubles.
But at night, he found mercy from His moon. Continue reading “You Have Me in Return (9/24/2023)”
If you were out of your self like we are,
if you were also drunk,
you would have already broken the halo around the moon,
ascended the heights of the sky and sat there. Continue reading “If You Were… You Would… (9/10/2023)”
O sugar lipped one, don’t break the jar.
O stonehearted one, don’t break the jar.
If you become His drunk,
you will drink wine from His hand.
But, His breath is very dangerous.
Don’t break the jar. Continue reading “Don’t Break the Jar (8/13/2023)”
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.
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)”
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.
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)”
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.
What is it that is attracting me to Him in every breath?
It is not ambergris. It is not musk.
It is His fragrance, His fragrance. Continue reading “From the Sun of Soul (5/21/2023)”