Heart, stop hunting and step into this net.... ~ Rumi

Rest your cheek, for a moment,
on this drunken cheek.

Let me forget the war 
and cruelty inside myself.

I hold these silver coins in my hand;
give me Your wine of golden light.

You have opened the seven doors of heaven;
now lay Your hand generously on my tightened heart.

All I have to offer is this illusion, my self.
Give it a nickname at least that is real.

Only you can restore what You have broken;
help my broken head.

Im not asking for some sweet pistachio candy,
but Your everlasting love.

Fifty times I've said,
"Heart, stop hunting and step into this net."

~ Rumi
Ghazal (Ode) 2422,
from the Divan-e Shams
Kabir Helminski
"Love is a Stranger"
Threshold Books, 1993

Try something different. Surrender. ~ Rumi

You and I have spoken all these words, 
but as for the way, we have to go, 
words are no preparation. 

There is no getting ready, 
other than grace.
My faults have stayed hidden.
One might call that a preparation!

I have one small drop of knowing in my soul.
Let it dissolve in your ocean.
There are so many threats to it.

Inside each of us, there's continual autumn.
Our leaves fall and are blown out over the water.

A crow sits in the blackened limbs
and talks about what's gone.

Then your generosity returns:
spring, moisture, intelligence,
the scent of hyacinth
and rose and cypress.

Joseph is back!
And if you don't feel in yourself
the freshness of Joseph, be Jacob!

Weep and then smile.
Don't pretend to know something
you haven't experienced.

There's a necessary dying,
and then Jesus is breathing again.

Very little grows on jagged rock.
Be ground. Be crumbled,
so wildflowers will come up
where you are.

You've been stony for too many years.
Try something different.
Surrender.

~ Rumi
(A Necessary Autumn Inside Each)

spinning and falling with love for My Beloved . ~ Rumi

You bind me, and I tear away 
in a rage to open out into air, 

A round brightness, a candle point,
all reason, all love.

This confusing joy, your doing,
this hangover, your tender thorn.

You turn to look, I turn.
I'm not saying this right.

I am a jailed crazy who ties up spirit-women.
I am Solomon.

What goes comes back. Come back.
We never left each other.

A disbeliever hides disbelief,
but I will say his secret.

More and more awake, getting up at night,
spinning and falling with love for My Beloved .

~ Rumi
Coleman Barks
"The Essential Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

Don't break away from the shell if the raindrop hasn't yet become a pearl. ~ Rumi

The reflection cast from good friends is needed
until you become, without the aid of any reflector,
a drawer of water from the Sea.

Know that the reflection is at first just imitation,
but when it continues to recur,
it turns into direct realization of truth.

Until it has become direct realization,
don't part from the friends who guide you

Don't break away from the shell
if the raindrop hasn't yet become a pearl.

~ Rumi
Mathnawi II: 566-568
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994

Burst your sheath, my heart, and come forth ! ~ Rabindranath Tagore

Be ready to launch forth, my heart !
and let those linger who must.

For your name has been called 
in the morning sky.

Wait for none!

The desire of the bud is for the night and dew,
but the blown flower cries for the freedom of light.

Burst your sheath, my heart,
and come forth !

~ Rabindranath Tagore
Fruit-Gathering
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916

this unread letter has lightened my burdens and turned my thoughts into songs. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

I woke and found his letter with the morning.
I do not know what it says, for I cannot read.

I shall leave the wise man alone with his books, 
I shall not trouble him, 
for who knows if he can read what the letter says.

Let me hold it to my forehead
and press it to my heart.

When the night grows still
and stars come out one by one
I will spread it on my lap and stay silent.

The rustling leaves will read it aloud to me,
the rushing stream will chant it,
and the seven wise stars will sing it to me from the sky.

I cannot find what I seek,
I cannot understand what I would learn;
but this unread letter has lightened my burdens
and turned my thoughts into songs.

~ Rabindranath Tagore
Fruit-Gathering
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916

My life will be one with your smile. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

There are numerous strings in your lute, 
let me add my own among them.

Then when you smite your chords, 
my heart will break its silence, 
and my life will be one with your song.

Amidst your numberless stars
let me place my own little lamp.

In the dance of your festival lights
my heart will throb
and my life will be one with your smile.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Never had the soul's ear heard a cry like this....by Rumi

When God gives spiritual awareness 
to any community,
the face and voice of a Beloved 
become a miraculous proof.

The Beloved calls aloud
and the soul of the community
falls to worship within.

Never had the soul's ear
heard a cry like this.

That stranger, the soul,
immediately perceiving the wondrous voice,
hears from God's own tongue the words,
"Truly, I am near."

~ Rumi
Mathnawi II: 3598-3601
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994

Come my beloved Come my sweetheart Come, come, come.....by Rumi

Come, come, come
My endless desires
Come, come, come
Come my beloved
Come my sweetheart
Come, come, come..

Don't talk about the journey
Say no more of the path
The path one must take
You are my path
You are my journey
Come, come, come..

You stole from this earth
A bouquet of roses
I am hidden in that bouquet
Come, come, come..

As long as I am sober
And keep talking about good and bad
I am missing the most important event
Seeing your face
Come come come..

I must be a moron
Missing this life
If I don't cast my mind
In the fire of love
Come, come, come...

~ Rumi
( Path of Love )

Love is invisible except here, in us....by Rumi

Love is invisible 
except here, in us. 

Sometimes I praise love;
sometimes love praises me. 

Love, a little shell
somewhere on the ocean floor,
opens its mouth.

You and I and we,
those imaginary beings,
enter that shell
as a single sip of seawater.

~ Rumi

Every soul becomes gold when touched by the Beloved . ~ Rumi

If a tree could run or fly 
it would not suffer 
from the teeth of a saw
or the blows of an axe.

If the Sun did not run across the sky
the world would not see
the colors of morning.

If water did not rise from the sea
plants would not be quickened
by rivers or rain.

It's only when a drop leaves the ocean
and returns that it can find an oyster
and become a pearl.

When Joseph left his father both were weeping
Didn't he gain a kingdom and a fortune in the end?

Didn't the Prophet gain the world and a hundred empires
by traveling to Medina?

But you have no need to go anywhere journey within yourself.
Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light.

O great one,
Journey from self to Self and find the mine of gold.

Leave behind what is sour and bitter
move toward what is sweet.

Be like the thousand different fruits
that grow from briny soil.

This is the miracle

Every tree becomes beautiful
when touched by sunlight;

Every soul becomes gold
when touched by the Beloved .

~ Rumi
Divane Shams-i Tabriz,
Ghazal 1042
translation by Scimmell

Here, here is the Beloved....by Rumi

O you who've gone on pilgrimage 
where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!

Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
he is next to your wall
You, erring in the desert
what air of love is this?

If you'd see the Beloved's
form without any form
You are the house, the master,
You are the Kaaba, you!...

Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul's pearly essence
when you're the Sea of God?

That's true--and yet your troubles
may turn to treasure rich
How sad that you yourself veil
the treasure that is yours!

~ Rumi
(Here is the Beloved!)
Ghazal (Ode) 648
Rumi, Diwan-i Sham-i Tabrizi
Translated by Annemarie Schimmel
Art by Alice Mason

Who am I then? His empty begging bowl....by Rumi

Which one am I ?
Of these two thousand "I" and "We" people,
which am I?

Don't try to keep me from asking!
Listen, when I'm this out of control!
But don't put anything breakable in my way!

There is an original inside me.
What's here is a mirror for that, for you.

If you are joyful, I am.
If you grieve, or if you're bitter, or graceful,
I take on those qualities.

Like the shadow of a cypress tree in the meadow,
like the shadow of a rose, I live
close to the rose.

If I separated myself from you,
I would turn entirely thorn.

Every second, I drink another cup of my own blood-wine.
Every instant, I break an empty cup against your door.

I reach out, wanting you to tear me open.

Beloved 's generosity lights a candle in my chest.
Who am I then?
His empty begging bowl.

~ Rumi
(Which one am I ?)
Version by Coleman Barks
"The Essential Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

Travelers, it is late....by Rumi

Travelers, it is late.
Life's sun is going to set.

During these brief days 
that you have strength,

Be quick
and spare no effort

of your wings.

~ Rumi

I come to you, aching for you....by Rumi

I come to you, 
aching for you. 

You say, 
'You're drunk. Go away.' 

I say
'No. I'm not drunk. Please open the door.'

You say,
'You are, you are.. Go away'.

~ Rumi

In Your district, where are "us" and "I,"...by Rumi

In Your district, 
where are "us" and "I,"

O You whose soul soars 
above "us" and "I,"

Who permeates with subtle spirit
both man and woman ?

When man and woman become one,
You are that Unity.

You have created
this "I" and "Us"

To play the game
of adoration with Yourself;

All the "I"s and "You"s
will become one single soul

And in the end
melt into the Beloved.

~ Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

Cry out! Don't be stolid and silent....by Rumi

Give your weakness
to one who helps.

Crying out loud and weeping 
are great resources.

A nursing mother, all she does
is wait to hear her child.

Just a little beginning-whimper
and she's there.

God created the child,
that is, your wanting,

so that it might cry out,
so that milk might come.

Cry out!
Don't be stolid and silent

with your pain. Lament! And let the milk
of loving flow into you.

The hard rain and wind
are ways the cloud has
to take care of us.

Be patient.
Respond to every call
that excites your spirit.

Ignore those that make you fearful
and sad, that degrade you
back toward disease and death.

~ Rumi
“Cry Out in Your Weakness”
translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne

Look, the wine is in the green grape, existence in nothingness..by Rumi

Look, 
the wine is in the green grape, 
existence in nothingness!

Beloved , 
I beg you, see in your pit
the crown and the kingdom!

A thorn
that has not blossomed
cannot illumine the field;

How can a being
made of water and clay find life
If Divine Breath does not Itself kindle it?

Clap your hands,
clap your hands again,
and know each sound

Has its origin
in the Wine's own self-surrender!

Be silent!
Spring is here!
The rose is dancing with its thorn.

Beauties have come
from the Invisible to call you home.

~ Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

Zero has no value, if not attached to a unit. So life has no value if not attached to God

A Always depend on God

B Bear insult, near injury

C Control the tongue

D Do not cheat anybody

E Evil company is dangerous

F Fear nothing

G Give, give, give. God will Love, Love, Love

H Helping others is virtue

I Injury is vice

J Japa is your coat of arms

K Knowledge is the fruit

L Live for others

M Mind deceives, beware

N Now is the best time to utilize

O Overcome grief by liberality

P Pure mind is your friend

Q Quietness will lead you to progress

R Recite the name of God

S Speak sweetly, speak softly

T To love is to Serve

U Understand yourself

V Virtue is the staff of life

W Within you is bliss

X (E)xert yourself for Good

Y Your treasure is God

Z Zero has no value, if not attached to a unit.
So life has no value if not attached to God

His boat is empty....by Chuang Tzu

A wise man has said: 

"He who is content with himself 
Has done a worthless work. 
Achievement is the beginning of failure. 
Fame is beginning of disgrace."

Who can free himself from achievement
And from fame, descend and be lost
Amid the masses of men?

He will flow like Tao, unseen,
He will go about like Life itself
With no name and no home.

Simple is he, without distinction.
To all appearances he is a fool.
His steps leave no trace. He has no power.
He achieves nothing, has no reputation.

Since he judges no one
No one judges him.
Such is the perfect man:
His boat is empty.

~ Chuang Tzu

The only purpose of the world's existence..by ~ Shams -e Tabrizi Rumi's Perfect Teacher

The only purpose
of the world's existence

is the meeting of
two friends

who face God
and turn away
from worldly desire.

~ Shams -e Tabrizi
Rumi's Perfect Teacher

Love says, I love you ...~ Maya Angelou

Love liberates ...
It doesn’t just hold ... That's ego ...

Love liberates ...
It doesn't bind ...

Love says,
I love you ...

I love you if you’re in China ...
I love you if you’re across town ...
I love you if you’re in Harlem ...
I love you ...

I would like to be near you ...
I’d like to have your arms around me ...
I’d like to hear your voice in my ear ...

But that’s not possible now, so I love you ...

~ Maya Angelou
Art by Inna Montano

In the sweetness of the Heart Lies the Secret of Surrender..via Belle Heywood

In the sweetness of the Heart 
Lies the Secret of Surrender

In the Flavors of Feelings 
Blooms the Flower of Love

Oh my foolish heart
pull out the lie of hope and fear

Oh my insane heart
give up the fruitless path..

Burn like incense crazy heart,
and stain these clothes with tears of sadness.

Be a fire of passion"s longing,
drunk on flames of loves" perfume.

Oh my mind, be like a woman,
tied by the thread of truly loving.

Be a room of invitation.
Be the space of emptiness.

Oh friend what use your endless prayer
if you have no love for the one
who"s next to you

What is real is you and my love for you.
It drives me mad with sweet embrace

Oh foolish mind, give up your fear
and drown within the swelling sea.

In the sweetness of the Heart
Lies the Secret of Surrender

In the Flavors of Feelings
Blooms the Flower of Love..!

~ Sweetness of the Heart: a song for yogis
Via Belle Heywood

With every breath the sound of love surrounds us...by Rumi

With every breath the sound

of love surrounds us,

and we are bound for the depths

of space, without distraction.

We've been in orbit before

and know the angels there.

Let's go there again, Master,

for that is our land.

Yet we are beyond all of that

and more than angels.

Out beyond duality,

we have a home, and it is Majesty.

That pure substance is

different from this dusty world.

What kind of place is this?

We once came down; soon we'll return.

A new happiness befriends us

as we work at offering our lives.

Belovedd, the jewel of the world,

is our caravan's chosen guide.

The sweetness we breathe on the wind

is from the scent of his hair,

and the radiance of our thought

is from the light of his day.

His face once caused

the moon to split in two.

She couldn't endure the sight of him.

Yet how lucky she was,

she who humbly received him.

Look into your heart and see

the splitting moon within each breath.

Having seen that vision,

how can you still dream?

When the wave of "Am I not?" struck,

it wrecked the body's ship;

when the ship wrecks again,

it will be the time of union.

The Human Being, like a bird of the sea,

emerged from the ocean of the soul.

Earth is not the final place of rest

for a bird born from the sea.

No, we are pearls of that ocean;

all of us live in it;

and if it weren't so, why would

wave upon wave arrive?

This is the time of union,

the time of eternal beauty.

It is the time of luck and kindness;

it is the ocean of purity.

The wave of bestowal has come.

The roar of the sea is here.

The morning of happiness has dawned.

No, it is the light of God.

Whose face is pictured here?

Who is this shah or prince?

Who is this ancient intelligence?

They are all masks . . .

and the only remedy is

this boiling ecstasy of the soul.

A fountain of refreshment

is in the head and the eyes -

not this bodily head

but another pure spiritual one.

Many a pure head has been spilled

in the dust. Know the one from the other!

Our original head is hidden,

while this other is visible.

Beyond this world is a world

that has no boundaries.

Put your water skin away, brother,

and draw some wine from our cask!

The clay jug of perception

has such a narrow spout.

The sun appeared from the direction of Tabriz,

and I said, "This light is at once joined

with all things, and yet apart from everything."

Rumi

My love, you are closer to me than myself,

you shine through my eyes.

Your light is brighter than the Moon.

Step into the garden

so all the flowers, even the tall poplar

can kneel before your beauty.

Let your voice silence the lily

famous for its hundred tongues.

When you want to be kind you are

softer than the soul but when you withdraw

you can be so cold and harsh.

Dear one, you can be wild and rebellious but

when you meet him face to face

his charm will make you docile like the earth.

Throw away your shield and bare your chest

there is no stronger protection than him.

That's why when the dervish withdraws

from the world he covers all the cracks in the wall,

so the outside light cannot come though.

He knows that only the inner light

illuminates his world.

~ Rumi

Cry out! Don’t be stolid and silent with your pain....by Rumi

Where lowland is,
that’s where water goes. All medicine wants
is pain to cure. . . .

Tear the binding from around the foot
of your soul, and let it race around the track
in front of the crowd. . . .

Give your weakness
to one who helps.

Crying out loud and weeping are great resources.

A nursing mother, all she does
is wait to hear her child.

Just a little beginning-whimper,
and she’s there.

God created the child, that is, your wanting,
so that it might cry out, so that milk might come.

Cry out! Don’t be stolid and silent
with your pain. Lament! And let the milk
of loving flow into you.

~ Rumi
The Essential Rumi,
translated by Coleman Barks