At the time of evening prayers,
everyone lights their candle and sets their table.
Yet, I put the Beloved’s image in front of me.
I cry and yell with sorrow and longing. Continue reading “Isn’t That True or False? (6/16/2024)”
O heart, you are under foot, always in ruins.
You leave your soul to sorrow,
getting so much pleasure from that sorrow.
This time, you have fallen into the fire and I have left you.
Maybe you will become a master through this burning.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 434.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (pub.summer 2024), Volume 3, Rubai 1104.
My life has passed in the great sweet pain of my heart.
My heart isn’t concerned about that sorrow;
it simply recognizes and accepts it. Continue reading “My Heart (3/10/2024)”
As Hodja is my witness,
I swear I will not make any vows again.
The glass of the vow is broken
as soon as I drink Love’s wine.
I swear to Your peerless beauty,
Your wine which defeats and ruins lions.
I won’t even get close to repentance.
I swear to Your sweet lips,
to Your heart which knows the secrets,
I am neither fond of this world
nor obliged to colors, to red and yellow.
I swear to Your sun-like face
and to the true value of Your words
that I am a thousand years
beyond the hot and cold of this world.
I swear to Your mind
which resembles a dark chestnut horse,
Your insignia which offers Soul,
that no one knows what kind of man I am
except You.
I swear to the blessedness of Your morning
and the uproar which comes after morning wine
that I will roll up the sky before I go.
O immortal Sultan, tell the cupbearer
that if someone comes to the assembly with a sour face,
he should serve him the sedimented wine of my sorrow.
That way, duality will disappear.
So will the difference between old and new.
Because at the sacred place of drinking,
I am separated from the crowd.
I am all by myself.
The cupbearer should offer so much wine
that that person becomes drunk, becomes a lover.
That way, he won’t be bothered
by either the echo of my voice or my cool reception.
When he becomes like that,
neither self nor envy will remain within him.
He will come to my playground pure and clean.
He will fly outside of time.
He will free himself from bait and trap.
He will turn himself into a witness
at this gambling place, without quarrel.
He will play with a clean heart like Venus.
He will submit himself to fate like dice,
saying neither, “I won,” nor “I lost.”
I will remain silent from now on.
I am neither nightingale nor parrot.
I am sugar.
I am a rose sapling.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 22, Ghazal 24, verses 216-228, pages 51-53.
Sometimes you get tired of living with His sorrow
and so you reject life.
Sometimes you tell His story with the ache in your heart.
Why are you turning so dizzily around the world?
The One whom you search for
is not out there, but inside of you.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 471.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Rubai 1077, Volume 3 (apprx.pub.spring2024).
There is a spark and warmth from Your Love
in everyone’s heart.
Your trace, the tears of Your longing
are in every prayer niche and alter.
I need a long night and beautiful moonlight to tell You
about all my troubles and sufferings caused by Love.
Rubailar (2016), Rubai 3, page 432.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pubsummer2024), Rubai 1084, Volume 3.
If the pain in my heart were reflected outside,
every particle’s face would be darkened by sorrow.
If it found the way to my Essence,
that drunkenness, that agitation
would turn every drop into an ocean.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 473.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.fall2023), Rubai 1013, Vol.3
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.
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?
O one who wants to experience the world and everything in it,
you are a day laborer.
O one who dreams of heaven, you are far from the Truth.
O one who enjoys both those worlds because of ignorance,
you haven’t tasted the pleasure of His sorrow.
You are excused, and you may leave.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 438.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 7/2023), Rubai 933, volume 3.