
O moon-faced One,
how long will you stay away?
How long will you be wandering around?
It doesn’t matter if one is an idol or shaman;
we are all Your prey. Continue reading “Love is Only for the Small (5/7/2023)”
O moon-faced One,
how long will you stay away?
How long will you be wandering around?
It doesn’t matter if one is an idol or shaman;
we are all Your prey. Continue reading “Love is Only for the Small (5/7/2023)”
My God, I wish I knew the intention of my Beloved.
He has taken my heart. My decision has disappeared.
My escape route has been blocked. Continue reading “My God, I Wish I Knew (3/19/2023)”
O heart, if you cannot endure the troubles of Love, go away.
If you don’t give up your life, you will never reach the Beloved.
If you haven’t been thrown, as Abraham was, into the fire,
you will never find, as Khidr* did, the Water of Life.
*Khidr A legendary man who is said to have attained immortality by drinking from the Water of Life and who comes to help those in moments of extreme distress.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 449.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.Fall 2023), Rubai 959, Volume 3.
O my heart-catching, life-taking Beauty
whose face is more beautiful than the moon,
since You have become my friend,
the light of my heart has burst out of my mouth flame after flame. Continue reading “Paradise (3/5/2023)”
You left me nameless like heart and soul.
You made me clap without hands, like joy and pleasure.
I said, “You made me walk out of time and space.
Souls have no place, so where am I going?”
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 448.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall 2023), Rubai 954, Volume 3.
A letter came for me from the other world.
It said, “Get ready for return.
Carry all your belongings to the sky.” Continue reading “I Will Be Free (2/5/2023)”
In order to hear the greetings of the heart,
I knocked on its door one night.
The glitter of that moonlight reflected on the eye and heart of the road.
After that, the brilliance sparkled endlessly. Continue reading “Greetings of the Heart (1/22/2023)”
My life has passed in the great sweet pain in my heart.
My heart isn’t concerned about that sorrow.
It simply recognizes and accepts it.
I was sitting, waiting, until I came to understand what my heart wanted.
Then, I started leaping with joy.
My heart had been running away from the circle of religion,
because his place is in the curls of Beauties.
I had been turning around the one who spins my heart.
He is the only one who can hear the yells
resulting from my heart’s struggles.
At night He took sleep away.
I waited until morning so I could see the heart’s face.
My body seemed destroyed,
as if it had dried up from bowing its head in prayer.
But then, I saw the height and stature of the heart.
That world is a spark of splendor from the heart’s sun.
This world is a drop from the sea of the heart.
Close your lips, because the yells and screams of my heart
are ascending to the sky without lips or tongue.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 9, Ghazal 74, verses 738-745, page 113.
O heart, you and His troubles are here.
This should be enough for you.
When you fall into the troubles of Love,
the soul becomes your slave and servant.
Once you drink a glass of wine from His hand,
you will no longer care about kingdoms and treasures,
even if the cost is a mere single penny.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 433.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.7/2023), Rubai 920, volume 2.
O heart, what did you find in all of your lootings,
in those pillagings where you spread out all of your belongings?
What did you find before you closed the door?
In this ruined building, you still keep making webs with your own saliva
in order to catch flies like the spider of greed. Continue reading “Sometimes (11/20/2022)”