For Lovers, the only lecturer is the beauty of the Beloved...BY Rumi

For Lovers, 
the only lecturer 
is the beauty of the Beloved 

Their only book and lecture 
and lesson is the Face.

They are silent outwardly,
but their penetrating remembrance rises
to the high throne of their Friend.

Their only lesson is enthusiasm,
whirling, and trembling
not the fine points of jurisprudence.

~ Rumi
Mathnawi III, 3847-3849
Art by Karin Taylor

I heard God laughing- Hafiz Sufi Poet

A Thirsty Fish...by Rumi

I don't get tired of you. Don't grow weary
of being compassionate toward me!

All this thirst equipment
must surely be tired of me,
the waterjar, the water carrier.

I have a thirsty fish in me
that can never find enough
of what it's thirsty for!

Show me the way to the ocean!
Break these half-measures,
these small containers.

All this fantasy
and grief.

Let my house be drowned in the wave
that rose last night in the courtyard
hidden in the center of my chest.

Joseph fell like the moon into my well.
The harvest I expected was washed away.
But no matter.

A fire has risen above my tombstone hat.
I don't want learning, or dignity,
or respectability.

I want this music and this dawn
and the warmth of your cheek against mine.

The grief-armies assemble,
but I'm not going with them.

This is how it always is
when I finish a poem.

A great silence comes over me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.

~ Rumi 
(A Thirsty Fish)
translated by Coleman Barks

I will not row my boat by your bank. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

If you would have it so, 
I will end my singing.

If it sets your heart aflutter,
I will take away my eyes from your face.

If it suddenly startles you in your walk,
I will step aside and take another path.

If it confuses you in your flower-weaving,
I will shun your lonely garden.

If it makes the water wanton and wild,
I will not row my boat by your bank.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Your prayers were Light..by Rabia

Your prayers were Light 
And your worship peaceful
your Sleep an enemy of the prayer.

Your Life was a Test
but you let it go
without a thought.

It's ever passing
slowly vanishes
Before you know it.

~ Rabia Basri

Unity with Beloved..by Jami

He that leaps into 
the river of Unity,

He speaks of union 
with his Beloved's beauty.

~Jami

A master's guidance...by Rumi

‎"Whoever enters the Way without a guide 
will take a hundred years to travel a two-day journey.

The Beloved said, 
'In this Way, you have no more faithful companions than your works.'

How can these works and this earning in the way of righteousness
be accomplished without a master, O father?

Can you practice the meanest profession in the world
without a master's guidance?

Whoever undertakes a profession without a master
becomes the laughingstock of city and town."

~ Rumi
Mathnavi.

Oh Companion That Abode Is Unmatched, Where My Complete Beloved Is..by Kabir

Oh Companion That Abode Is Unmatched,
Where My Complete Beloved Is.

In that Place There Is No Happiness or Unhappiness, 
No Truth or Untruth
Neither Sin Nor Virtue.
There Is No Day or Night, No Moon or Sun,
There Is Radiance Without Light.

There Is No Knowledge or Meditation
No Repetition of Mantra or Austerities,
Neither Speech Coming From Vedas or Books.
Doing, Not-Doing, Holding, Leaving
All These Are All Lost Too In This Place.

No Home, No Homeless, Neither Outside or Inside,
Micro and Macrocosm Are Non-Existent.
Five Elemental Constituents and the Trinity Are Both Not There
Witnessing Un-struck Shabad Sound is Also Not There.

No Root or Flower, Neither Branch or Seed,
Without a Tree Fruits are Adorning,
Primordial Om Sound, Breath-Synchronized Soham, 
This and That - All Are Absent, The Breath Too Unknown

Where the Beloved Is There is Utterly Nothing
Says Kabir I Have Come To Realize.
Whoever Sees My Indicative Sign
Will Accomplish the Goal of Liberation.
~KABIR

It is for the union of you and me that there is light in the sky....by Rabindranath Tagore

It is for the union of you and me 
that there is light in the sky.

It is for the union of you and me 
that the earth is decked in dusky green.

It is for the union of you and me
that the night sits motionless
with the world in her arms;

Dawn appears opening the eastern door
with sweet murmurs in her voice.

The boat of hope sails along the currents
of eternity toward that union;

Flowers of the ages are being gathered together
for its welcoming ritual.

It is for the union of you and me
that this heart of mine, in the garb of a bride,

Has proceeded from birth to birth upon the surface
of this ever-turning world to chose the beloved.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

The Guest is inside you, and also inside me...by Kabir

The Guest is inside you, and also inside me;
you know the sprout is hidden inside the seed.

We are all struggling; none of us has gone far.
Let your arrogance go, and look around inside.

The blue sky opens out farther and farther,
the daily sense of failure goes away,
the damage I have done to myself fades,
a million suns come forward with light,
when I sit firmly in that world.

I hear bells ringing that no one has shaken;
inside love there is more joy than we know of;
rain pours down, although the sky is clear of clouds;
there are whole rivers of light.

The universe is shot through in all parts by a single sort of love.
How hard it is to feel that joy in all our four bodies!

Those who hope to be reasonable about it fail.
The arrogance of reason has separated us from that love.
With the word “reason” you already feel miles away.

How lucky Kabir is, that surrounded by all this joy
he sings inside his own little boat.
His poems amount to one soul meeting another.

These songs are about forgetting dying and loss.
They rise above both coming in and going out.

~ Kabir

I must launch out my boat..by Rabindranath Tagore

I must launch out my boat.
The languid hours pass by on the
shore---Alas for me!

The spring has done its flowering and taken leave.
And now with the burden of faded futile flowers I wait and linger.

The waves have become clamorous, 
and upon the bank in the shady lane
the yellow leaves flutter and fall.

What emptiness do you gaze upon!
Do you not feel a thrill passing through the air
with the notes of the far-away song
floating from the other shore?

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Day by day I float my paper boats ...by Rabindranath Tagore

Day by day I float my paper boats 
one by one down the running stream.

In big black letters I write my name on them 
and the name of the village where I live.

I hope that someone in some strange land will find them
and know who I am.

I load my little boats with shiuli flowers from our garden,
and hope that these blooms of the dawn
will be carried safely to land in the night.

I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky
and see the little clouds setting their white bulging sails.

I know not what playmate of mine in the sky
sends them down the air to race with my boats!

When night comes I bury my face in my arms
and dream that my paper boats float on
and on under the midnight stars.

The fairies of sleep are sailing in them,
and the lading is their baskets full of dreams.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

My heart became like a pen...by Rumi

My heart became like a pen
that’s in the Beloved’s fingers:

Tonight he may write a Z,
perhaps tomorrow, a B.

He cuts and prepares his pen well
to write in riqa and naskh;*

The pen says: “Lo, I obey,
for you know best what to do.”

Sometimes he blackens its face,
he wipes it then in his hair,

He holds it now upside down,
sometimes he writes with it too. . .

~ Rumi 
Translation by Annemarie Schimmel
“I Am Wind, You are Fire”
Shambhala, 1992
*riqa and naskh: two styles of writing Persian.

Love itself describes its own perfection....by Rumi

Love itself describes 
its own perfection.

Be speechless 
and listen.

~ Rumi

My song has put off her adornments..by Rabindranath Tagore

My song has put off her adornments. 
She has no pride of dress and decoration. 

Ornaments would mar our union; 
they would come between thee and me; 
their jingling would drown thy whispers.

My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight. 
O master poet, 
I have sat down at thy feet. 

Only let me make my life simple and straight, 
like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.

~ Rabindranath Tagore 
Art by Arlena Willow

What promises ? You made me break them all. ~ Rumi

When I shed tears of blood,
You made me laugh.

When I was gone from this world,
You brought me back.

Now you ask,
What about your promises ?

What promises ?
You made me break them all.

~ Rumi
Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

you must sacrifice...by Hazrat Inayat Khan

It always means 
that you must sacrifice 

Something very dear to you 
when His call comes.

~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

Awake, my dear..by Hafiz

Awake, my dear.

Be kind
to your sleeping heart.

Take it out
into the vast fields
of Light

And let it
breathe.

~ Hafiz

Where can I see the pure light of the Sun but in the eyes of my own Beloved..! ~ Rumi

Don't weep.
The joy that has gone
will come round again in another form
Have no doubt about this !

A child's first joy
comes from its mother's milk
After the child is weaned
his joy comes from drinking sweet wine.

This supreme joy has no resting place
It enters one form then another
from box to box an eternal movement
between heaven and earth.

Here it comes, pouring down from the sky,
seeping into the earth,
and rising up again as a bed of roses.

Now it is water, now a plate of rice,
Now the swaying trees, now a horse and rider.
It lies within these forms for awhile
then bursts forth to become something new.

Isn't this like our dreams
The body sleeps
while the soul moves on
to take other forms.

You say,
I dreamt I was a cypress, a bed of tulips,
the blossoms of roses and jasmines.
Then the soul returns, and you wake up
the cypress is gone, the roses are gone.

I tell you truly,
everything you now see
will vanish like a dream.

I do not mean to trouble you, O friend,
with words so bold as these.
Perhaps you will only listen to Him.
He speaks more gently than I.

But how will you ever hear Him with
All that blathering going on ?
Everyone is speaking about golden bread
yet no one has ever tasted it !

O my soul, where can I find rest
but in the shimmering love of his heart ?

Where can I see the pure light of the Sun
but in the eyes of my own Beloved..!

~ Rumi
Version by Jonathan Star
"A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
Bantam Books, 1992

RUM

LOVE

I am born of the Sun..by Rumi

I only speak of the Sun
because the Sun is my Beloved 
I worship even the dust at His feet.

I am not a night-lover and do not praise sleep
I am the messenger of the Sun !
Secretly I will ask Him and pass the answers to you.

Like the Sun I shine on those who are forsaken
I may look drunk and disheveled but I speak the Truth.

Tear off the mask, your face is glorious,
your heart may be cold as stone but
I will warm it with my raging fire.

No longer will I speak of sunsets or rising Moons,
I will bring you love's wine
for I am born of the Sun
I am a King !

~ Rumi
Ghazal (Ode) 1621
Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001
Art by Corrina Holyoake

Body, speech and mind in perfect oneness by Thich Nhat Hanh

Body, speech and mind in perfect oneness,
I send my heart along with the sound of the bell.

May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness
And transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow.

Those who are listening to the sound of the bell
silently recite the following gatha:

"Listen, listen,
This wonderful sound brings me back
to my true home."

As we listen to the sound of the bell,
the voice of the Buddha inside,
calling each of us back to our true home,
the place of peace, tolerance and love.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Buddha

Does happiness reflect in your face from the wine of the true religion ? by Rumi

Does happiness reflect in your face
from the wine of the true religion ?

Where is your generous hand
if you've beheld 
the Ocean of Abundance ?

The one who sees the River
doesn't grudge water to the thirsty,

Especially the one
who has beheld that Sea
and those mighty Clouds.

~ Rumi
Mathnawi VI: 804-805
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996

Moon do you love me asks the sun....by Renate Dartois

Moon do you love me
asks the Sun in a sweet voice
I do answers the moon
we are made for each other

I cannot wait for each sunrise and sunset
our time for a gentle caress a tender embrace
as we pass each other on our journey
rotating the earth between day and night

you dear sun providing the light of the day
nourishing the beauty of nature
with your warming soothing rays

I shine amongst the stars
as the world sleeps a gentle source of light
and you know I am often gazed upon
with the romantic notion..

~ Renate Dartois
(Moon do you love me asks the sun)

Love has Befriended me so completely..by Hafiz

Love has
Befriended me 
so completely

It has turned 
to ash

And freed
Me

Of every 
concept and image

My mind 
has ever known.

~ Hafiz
Art by Rassouli

I became better from gazing at him. ~ Habib Umar Bin Hafiz

The one who i love was sick, 
so I visited him.

And I became sick over my grief 
for his sickness

Then my beloved came
to visit me and

I became better
from gazing at him.

~ Habib Umar Bin Hafiz

MOTHER