I will search for my sweet love, I will seek my home. ~ Rumi

I am love's musician playing for joy
I comb the beard of happiness
and pull the moustache of sorrow.

When my core is touched by music
love's wine begins to flow.
In this temple of fire my blood
is melting the snow from my body.

It is spring, it is time for action,
It is time to throw away all false pretences.
Dragged and pulled in love, I bear all the pain.

Caught in this confusion, in this bitter sweetness
I am the captive of this journey.
It is the scent of home that keeps me going
the hope of union, the face of my Beloved.

I know our fate is separation,
but until my last breath
I will search for my sweet love,
I will seek my home.

~ Rumi
Ghazal (Ode) 1395,
from Rumi's "Diwan-e Shams"
("The Collection of Shams")
Translation by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001
Art by Samuel Lind