Oh formless Heart-ravisher!

Oh formless Heart-ravisher! Oh unformed Form-maker!
Oh Thou who hast given a goblet full of uproar to the lovers!

Thou hast shut my mouth lest I voice the mysteries, and
in the breast Thou hast opened the door I cannot name.

As soon as Thy Beauty threw off its veil in secret, my heart
fell to the saki and my head to the wine.

It was morning, and Thy Image went mounted on its steed.
Holy spirits, innumerable as sand, went on foot.

And those who are famous for their glorification of Thee in
heaven broke their rosaries and pawned their prayer carpets.

The spirit cannot bear to see Thy Face unveiled, and Thy
Beauty is greater than whatever I say.

My spirit is a drunken camel following behind Thee, my
body a collar around the camel's neck.

Shams of God Tabrizi! My heart is pregnant from Thee!
When will I see the child born of Thy auspiciousness!

Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

O formless Beloved of the pure form-fashioner, O you who
have given the cup full of tumult to the lovers,

You have closed your mouth against uttering secrets, and
opened in the heart the door which I do not mention.

Since your beauty secretly cast off the veil, heart has gone
after saki and hand after wine.

In the morning when your image drove forth riding, holy
spirits, as numberless as the sand, followed on foot;

And those who are famous in heaven for their adoration broke
their rosaries and pawned their prayer rugs.

They cannot endure to gaze on your face unveiled; your beauty
exceeds all that I say.

My soul runs after you like a raging camel; my body is a collar
bound upon the neck of that camel.

Shams-al Haqq Tabriz, my heart is pregnant by you; when
shall I see a child born under your auspices?

Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
The University of Chicago Press, 1991

 

 

Whatever will be, will be.

Let the Lover be disgraceful, crazy,
absentminded. Someone sober
will worry about events going badly.
Let the Lover be.

Poetic version by Coleman Barks and John Moyne
"Unseen Rain - Quatrains of Rumi"
Threshold Books, 1986

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
we worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

Poetic version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva "A Garden Beyond Paradise - The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
Bantam Books, 1992

All year round the lover is mad
Unkempt, lovesick, and in despair
Without love there is nothing but grief
In love... what else matters?

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1999

 

In love..

I am hopelessly in love with you, no point

giving me advice.

I have drunk love’s poison, no point

taking any remedy.

They want to chain my feet but

what’s the point

when it is my heart that’s gone mad.

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi

Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1999

fallen in love with you

I will take no advice

I have tasted the poison

what good can sugar do

they say he is mad

and in chains

he must be put

mad is my heart

what is a chain

on my foot

Translation by Nader Khalili

Rumi, Dancing the Flame

Cal-Earth Press, 2001

There is nothing you can't achieve

 If you realize that all things change,
there is nothing you will try to hold on to.
If you aren't afraid of dying,
there is nothing you can't achieve.

 

Trying to control the future
is like trying to take the master carpenter's place.
When you handle the master carpenter's tools,
chances are that you'll cut yourself.

 

(Tao Te Ching, trans. by Stephen Mitchell)

 

Still, that doesn't stop the sun from shining...

To follow one's own desires is to flee from God

and to spill the blood of spirituality

in the presence of His justice.

This world is a trap, and desire its bait:

escape the traps, and quickly

turn your face toward God.

When you have followed this Way,

you have enjoyed a hundred blessings.

When you have gone the opposite way, you have fared ill.

So the Prophet said, "Consult your own hearts,

even though the religious judge

advises you about worldy affairs."

Abandon desire, and so reveal His Mercy:

you've learned by experience

the sacrifice He requires.

Since you can't escape, be His servant,

and go from His prison into His rose garden.

When you continually keep watch over your thoughts and actions,

you are always seeing the Justice and the Judge,

though heedlessness may shut your eyes,

still, that doesn't stop the sun from shining.

Mathnawi VI: 377-384

Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"

Threshold Books, 1996

In the core of your Heart..

you see no center

you’re so ego ridden

within your shell

your senses are

the brain of your body

and your brain

the sense of your soul

remember

that there is a friend

within your soul

once you surpass

the body sense and soul

there is nothing but the friend

Translation by Nader Khalili

Rumi, Dancing the Flame

Cal-Earth Press, 2001 

Don’t forget the nut, being so proud of the shell,

The body has its inward ways,

the five senses. They crack open,

and the Friend is revealed.

Crack open the Friend, you become

the All-One.

Version by Coleman Barks

"Unseen Rain" 

Threshold Books, 1986

Deafened by the voice of desire

you are unaware the Beloved

lives in the core of your heart.

Stop the noise,

and you will hear His voice

in the silence.

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi

Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1999

Be silent, for madness has begun to boil

(credit : World Photograhy)

Where is the knowing, nimble Minstrel of Love -
He who plays only for Love, accepting no one's request?

I have died hoping for Him but have not seen Him;
I have entered the grave in my desire.

Oh dear friend, if you have seen Him, how
good for you! Oh friend, indeed, how good for you!

But if He is hidden like Khidr*,
alone upon the shores of the sea,

Then oh wind, take our salaam to Him! For my
heart is in tumult over Him.

I know that burning salaams take lovers to their
Beloved.

Love makes the millwheel of the heavens spin, not water;
Love makes the moon go forward, not feet.

In remembrance, the millwheel of spirits begins
to turn through the water of the eyes.

Remembrance is the noose of union with the Beloved -
be silent, for madness has begun to boil.

  Ghazal 127
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

*"Hidden like Khidr" -- Khidr is one of the four prophets whom the Islamic tradition recognizes as being `alive' or`immortal', the other three being Idris (Enoch), Ilyas (Elias), and `Isa (Jesus). Khidr is immortal because he drank from the water of life. In Sufi tradition, Khidr has come to be known as one of the afrâd, those "who receive illumination direct from God without human mediation." He is the hidden initiator of those who walk the mystical path like some of those from the Uwaisi tariqa.
-- Derived by Sunlight from http://www.khidr.org