Humility......! by Rumi

When you see the face of anger
look behind it
and you will see the face of pride.

Bring anger and pride
under your feet, turn them into a ladder
and climb higher.

There is no peace until you become
their master.

Let go of anger, it may taste sweet
but it kills.

Don't become its victim.
You need humility to climb to freedom.

~ Rumi

My fleeting lover ........! by Rumi

Bring back to me my fleeting lover
make up excuses, sing her beautiful songs,
convince this exquisite Moon
to come back home.

Do not be deceived by her charming promises
he can easily bewitch water
and tie air into a knot.

But when you see her sun-like face
watch how God's wonders appear!

My heart, go gently and when you find
my priceless treasure
offer her my absolute devotion.

~ Rumi

listen, and don't say a word...! by Rumi

"There is no angel so sublime, He wispered,
Who can be granted for one moment
What is granted you forever.
And I hung my head, astounded.


My Heart, that dervish vagabond,
Poured me the wine of oblivion.
I stagger to the House of Wine
Dancing, dancing, dragging this old cloak.


How can you ever hope to know the Beloved
Without becoming in every cell the Lover?
And when you are the Lover at last, you don't care.
Whatever you know or don't - only Love is real.


If one drop of Divine Drunkenness fell
On the intellects of everyone in the world,
The world and its beings, free will, and obedience -
All, all, would vanish in a moment.


The sail of the ship of man's being is belief.
When there is a sail, the wind can carry him
To place after place of power and wonder.
No sail, all words are winds.


You say you have seen Him, but your eyes are two stones.
You say you have known Him, but nothing in you trembles.
You still say "I" when you speak of surviving His glory:
No one who has seen It has ever survived.



The real work of religion is permanent astonishment.
By that I don't mean in astonishment turning your back on Him -
I mean - blazing in blind ecstacy,
drowned in God and drunk on Love.



Choose the company of those withdrawn in love.
Listen to those who open the path to you;
listen, and don't say a word." 
~ Rumi

I drank water from your spring...! by Rumi

What was in that candle's light

that opened and consumed me so quickly?

Come back, my friend. The form of our love

is not a created form.

Nothing can help me but that beauty.

There was a dawn I remember

when my soul heard something from your soul.

I drank water from your spring

and felt the current take me.

~ Rumi

Don't take the cup away...! by ..Rumi

Don't take the cup away from me
before I've had enough to drink.
Your promises are charming
but I am not a fool.

Be more giving or I will have to rob you,
you raise your price to discourage me
but I am not naive and won't give up so easily.

Come out of hiding, open the door and let me in
I am at your mercy, the slave of your smile.

I put on airs to impress you,
even your scolding inflames my passion.

You are the music within music that stole my heart.
If I see beauty it's because I look through your eyes
but when I come back to myself
I find no one there.

Still you are not content, what more do you want?
My Love, I am your falcon and when I hear your drum
I will spread my wings.

If you offer me your love I'll be drunk with joy,
but if you do not, I will accept,
lower my head and surrender.

~ Rumi

I will give up....! by ..Rumi

I will give up anything to win your love
but if you say no,
I will accept and walk away filled with
the sweetness of your denial.

I have come secretly to seize your flame for my soul
I have come to steal from the King's treasure
but if I do not succeed,
I will accept and walk away knowing
where the gold is hidden.

Play your tricks, pinch my hat if you like
but I will walk away with your golden belt!

Tempted for so long to have a vision of you
I myself have turned into a vision.
You have seized the fortress of my heart,
your love arrows can split even a mountain,
How can my poor heart ever escape them?

I don't even dare to mention your name
and call you "My Moon"
jealous that others may discover you.

This poem is for the time when you held
the cup before me saying,
"Drink, drink now because if you don't,
I will pass the wine to someone else."

~ Rumi

Thinking of you...! by Shad Strong

When we’re apart you’re all I think of.
I long to see your eyes and smile.

Eyes that sparkles like precious gems.
A smile that lights up my heart with joy and love,
like the Light of the World shining down from Heaven.

I long to hold your hand.
Just a touch warms my soul on the coldest day.
I long to hold you in my arms.
Arms that give me such a sense of security
that nothing could ever take you from me.

I long to kiss your precious lips.
Lips as sweet as candy exploding with passion.

Forgive me if when we’re together
I can’t stop adoring your divine beauty.

Even though you don’t tell me you love me,
I know what love feels and looks like.

I see love glistening in your eyes.
I feel love in the warmth of you hands
and in the tremble of you kiss.

You may not be sure that you love me yet,
but I have no doubts that you do.

I often think I’m the luckiest man in the world,
but God constantly reminds me that is not so.
It is His blessing, not luck
for me to have an angel like you.

~ Shad Strong

Listen, can you hear it?............by Rabindranath Tagore

Listen, can you hear it?
His bamboo flute speaks
the pure language of love.

The moon enlightens the trees,
the path, the sinuous Yamuna.
Oblivious of the jasmine’s scent

I stagger around,
disheveled heart bereft of modesty,
eyes wet with nerves and delight.
Tell me, dear friend, say it aloud:
is he not my own Dark Lord Syama?
Is it not my name his flute pours
into the empty evening?

For eons I longed for God,
I yearned to know him.
That’s why he has come to me now,
deep emerald Lord of my breath.

O Syama, whenever your faraway flute thrills
through the dark, I say your name,
only your name, and will my body to dissolve
in the luminous Yamuna.

Go to her, Lord, go now.
What’s stopping you?
The earth drowns in sleep.
Let’s go. I’ll walk with you.

~  Rabindranath Tagore

This poems tells of the anticipation of Lord Krsna’s arrival from Radha’s perspective, her senses tingling and listening for the flute he often plays to draw the young maidens to him. Radha’s friend calls to Lord Krisna to go to Radha and satisfy her. 

Pull the thorns from your heart...! by Rumi

Behind the blood-stained curtains of Love
there are fields of flowers
where the lovers wander.

While the mind sees only boundaries
Love knows the secret way there.

While the mind smells profit and quickly sets up shop
Love sees untold of treasures far beyond.

Lovers trust in the wealth of their hearts
while the all-knowing mind sees only thorns ahead.

To wander in the fields of flowers
pull the thorns from your heart.

~ Rumi

Give yourself a kiss.
If you live in China, don’t look
somewhere else, in Tibet, or Mongolia.

If you want to hold the beautiful one,
hold yourself to yourself.

When you kiss the Beloved,
touch your own lips with your own fingers.

The beauty of every woman and every man
is your own beauty.

The confusion of your hair
obscures that sometimes.

An artist comes to paint you
and stands with his mouth open.

Your love reveals your beauty,
but all covering would disappear
if only for a moment your holding-back
would sit before your generosity
and ask,
“Sir, who are you?”

At that,
Beloved's  life-changing face
gives you a wink.

~ Rumi

– Version by Coleman Barks
“Like This”
Maypop, 1990

But if you are happy…..! by Rumi

When you whirl, 

your eye sees the room whirling, too.

If you sail in a ship over the sea,
it seems the seashore is running past.

If your heart is oppressed with struggle,
the whole atmosphere of the world feels tight;
but if you are happy as your friends would wish,
this world seems to be a garden of roses.

~ Rumi

Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance”
Threshold Books, 1996

DEFEATED BY LOVE..........! by Rumi

The sky was lit
by the splendor of the moon
So powerful
I fell to the ground

Your love
has made me sure

I am ready to forsake
this worldly life
and surrender to the magnificence
of your Being

~  Rumi

In the sea of love....! by Rumi

‘In the sea of love, I melt like salt, 

Faith, Doubt – they both dissolve.

A star is opening in my heart, The worlds turn in it.

With one silent laugh you tilted the night

And the garden ran with stars.

You burned away my last illusion, The world and I died together

I woke a ghost smiling among ghosts, Unreal and gentle in a world of You.

I thought the world real until you laughed, Walls fell, then reared again

Transparent now, soft dancing fans, You shut and open, when you want

So often I put up my hands, To shield my eyes from you

Wild hilarious miracle! 

Your Light shines through my bones.

Sometimes in all this talk I find a word, 

With your mark on it

In the blood of love. And the worlds go quiet.

Each being is your gold, walking, Love, the eyes that see the gold.

Last night I touched your beauty, Woke an alchemist.

We were green; we ripened and grew golden. 

The sea terrified us; we learned how to drown.

Squat and earthbound, we unfolded huge wings. 

We started sober; are Loves drunkards.

I watch you dancing in all my actions, 

Without using eyes, I spy you at play

My old eyes wore thin, 

I threw them away, Vision grew in their sockets like grass.

I know nothing; pass away; only you live on, 

Passing my moods like masks before your face

Dancing through my skull your wordless secret, 

Rattling its jewel in this bowl of bone.

The truth so simple, The mind explodes

To meet itself, Running back in all things.’

~ Rumi

He alone....! by Rumi

He alone has the right to break,
for he alone has the power to mend.

He that knows how to sew together
knows how to tear apart:

whatever He sells,
He buys something better in exchange.

He lays the house in ruins;
then in a moment He makes it more liveable than before.

~ Rumi, Mathnawi I, 3882

Let us fall in love again .....! by Rumi

Let us fall in love again
and scatter gold dust all over the world.
Let us become a new spring
and feel the breeze drift in the heavens’ scent.

Let us dress the earth in green,
and like the sap of a young tree
let the grace from within sustain us.

Let us carve gems out of our stony hearts
and let them light our path to Love.

The glance of Love is crystal clear
and we are blessed by its light.

~ Rumi
– Translation by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
“Rumi: Hidden Music”

Let this be my parting word.....! by Rabindranath Tagore

When I go from hence let this be my parting word,
that what I have seen is unsurpassable.

I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus
that expands on the ocean of light,
and thus am I blessed--
Let this be my parting word.

In this playhouse of infinite forms
I have had my play and here have
I caught sight of him that is formless.

My whole body and my limbs have thrilled with his
touch who is beyond touch;
and if the end comes here, let it come--
Let this be my parting word.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

When compassion fills my heart..! By Rumi

I am happy
when I am sad..!

I am together
when fallen apart..
like earth
when I am silent..!

I have thunder
hidden inside..

~ Rumi
– Translation by Nader Khalili
“Rumi, Dancing the Flame”
Cal-Earth Press, 2001

When you dance................! by Rumi

When you dance

the whole universe dances.

What a wonder,

I’ve looked

and now I cannot look away!

Take me or do not take me,

both are the same –

As long as there is life in this body,

I am your servant.

~ Rumi

– Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva

A Garden Beyond Paradise

Bantam Books, 1992

“Doors in Metal”......! by Rumi

Tell me, O Love,
Who is more elegant,
You or this vast garden of yours?

Shine, O moon,
You are an inspiration
to all who look upon the night sky.

Sour will turn to sweet,
Blasphemy will turn to truth,
Thorn bushes will turn to jonquil,
A hundred bodies will spring to life
with one breath of yours.

You place doors in the sky.
You place wings on the human heart.
You enchant every mind
and bewilder both worlds.

O Beloved,
your face is sweet and rosy red,
how rosy red.

O Beloved,
yours is the pleasure of this world
and the way to the next.

The threshed corn assumes your color;
All truth becomes one
under the stamping of your foot.
Every note of my song
longs to ring
with the sweetness of your voice.

Without you, the markets would be empty,
The gardens and the vineyards
would wash away in the rain.

You show trees how to sway in the wind.
You show wet branches how to weep.

The leaves and fruits get drunk
on your life-giving water.
If the vast gardens wished for one thing
During the eternal Spring
it would be for leaves, flying forever,
in this flower-wind of yours.

The lights of heaven and the moving planets
Think little of any star
that dares to shine
in this vast galaxy of yours.

O, what a promise you have made!
To serve joy instead of bread
to any soul who becomes a guest of yours. . . .
I went somewhere and I returned.
In a moment, as in a dream,
I was at the beginning and the end;
This elephant of a soul
saw the open plains of yours.

From all my plans I gained nothing.
In the end my heart broke its chains,
grabbed my soul,
and dragged it into your presence.
There I see no pettiness, no pain.
Every moment a new life enters,
born from the flowing compassion of yours.

O, the mountain looks small
beside your grandeur.
And the heart seems rude
beside your love . . .

You are holding every door wide open.
Doors in metal, in mountains, in stone!
Yet my heart crawls around like an ant
looking for its tiny hole.

I may sing till the end of time
Trying to describe your face
but I’ll always sound mute.
How can a person talk straight
when he is in love?
How can a person walk straight
when he is drowning
in this wine-filled ocean of yours?


~ Rumi

– Ghazal 2138

Version by Jonathan Star, based on a translation by
Shahram Shiva
“A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi”
Bantam Books, 1992