Leave to others the endless job
of the improvement of this Earth.
This whole world
is worth less than a ruined caravanserai,*
less than a small coin,
less even than a grain of barley.
*A roadside inn along a caravan route.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 441.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (pubwinter2024), Rubai 1079, Volume 3.
I wonder if your eyes are sleepy or evasive.
No, I swear, you are trying to deceive God.
You close your eyes like a merchant
who reaches his gold once he falls asleep.
You have extended a chain, setting up endless traps.
You tightly restrain some, while you loosen the bondage of others.
As a good deed, you kill your innocent lovers
and pray in front of your martyrs’ graves.
Sometimes, like a cupbearer, you take the mind away from the head.
Sometimes, like a musician, you fill that head with melodies.
You play the ney of separation.
You play Iraq’s ney, making Buselik similar to Hicaz.*
You make the hearts and souls of poor ones
and the wounded hearts of captive ones
treasures of supplication
just with the alms of your beauty.
You tear the curtain of the firmament.
You are coy with the coyness of the Sultan.
You live with the great splendor of Eyaz,,**
stealing the crowns of sultans.
You are my love.
Does Love have any shape or form?
You dress in this shape. You are just joking.
You are an endless treasure.
No sultan’s seal could be put on such a treasure.
Even if a seal were put on one side,
you would quickly cut through it.
Submerge into this wealth and be silent.
How long will you be screaming,
clinging to hope and greed
while you sit next to this treasure?
*Iraq/ Buselik/ Hicaz Tunes of Near Eastern music.
**Eyaz The name of the slave of Gazne’s Mahmut, used symbolically to mean auspicious.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 21, Ghazal 114, verses 1236-1246, pages 253-254.
Sometimes You rip the curtain.
Sometimes You repair it.
Sometimes You get along with me.
Sometimes You break me apart and burn me.
I am learning about youth in my old age.
O people of the world, I can advise you about old age.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 481.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (approx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1030, Volume 3.
You spilled the Water of Life
in order to save water to wash your face.
You wasted sugar and honey
and put poison in your mouth. Continue reading “It is Not Worth It (8/27/2023)”
If you become God’s prey, you will be freed from sorrows.
If you run after your desires, you will be a slave to yourself.
You should know this very well:
your being is the curtain which conceals God from you.
Do not stay with you, or you will get hurt all the time.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 474.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1018, Volume 3.
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 all I have made are mistakes and You are my only right, that is enough for me.
You are the only meaning of my ruined, wrecked life.
At the time of my leaving this world,
if they ask me, “What did you do?”
I will answer, “You.” And, that is enough for me.
Rubaiyat (2016), Rubai 3, page 454.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. fall 2023), Rubai 967, Volume 3.
You are neither water nor earth. You are something else.
You are created from mud, but you are not mud.
You are beyond this muddy world.
You are on the journey to your Essence.
Your body is a riverbed. Your soul is the Water of Life.
But, as long as you stay with your self,
you will not know either one.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 450.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.Fall 2023), Rubai 963, Volume 3.
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.
O pilgrim, where are you going? Where?
The Beloved is here, coming, coming.
Your Beloved is your next-door neighbor.
What kind of idea makes you wander around this desert like a vagabond? Continue reading “Were are You Going? (8/21/2022)”