Tuesday, January 21, 2014

“Throw away your poetry and come to the stars!”



Do not remain a man of intellect among the lovers,
especially if you love that sweet-faced Beloved.
 
May the men of intellect stay far from the lovers,
may the smell of dung stay far from the east wind!
 
If a man of intellect should enter, tell him the way
is blocked; but if a lover should come, extend him a
hundred welcomes!
 
By the time intellect has deliberated and reflected,
love has flown to the seventh heaven.
 
By the time intellect has found a camel for the
hajj, love has circled the Kaaba.
 
Love has come and covered my mouth: 
“Throw away your poetry and come to the stars!”

Ode 182
Translation by William C. Chittick
The Sufi Path of Love - The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1983
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