How sweet is selflessness....by Rumi

Whether it’s sugar or poison, 
How sweet is selflessness !

You grab a hat, you have no head. 
How sweet is selflessness !

When you fall into its trap, and try to get out
but find no escape…
when you take just a sip of its wine,
How sweet is selflessness !

Face your fear and be a man;
you’re alive, so be in motion.
Abandon gold for a heart of gold.
How sweet is selflessness !

You spread yourself like freezing rain.
Experience the miracle of melting.
Don’t be sad about this material world.
How sweet is selflessness !

Don’t complain that you’re trapped,
that your cup of life is full to the brim.
Find new life even in old age.
How sweet is selflessness !

How can you stay sober in this ocean of wine !
Surrender your skepticism !
How sweet is selflessness !

When those black curls of Hers appear,
ambergris seems less than worthless,
but what musk, what fragrant ambergris
is this sweet selflessness !

Come on to the rose garden, friend,
join the gathering of the drunks,
A glass in every hand !
How sweet is selflessness !

See the Power truly present,
witnessing each and every soul,
far beyond even selflessness.
How sweet is selflessness !

~ Rumi
Divani Shamsi Tabrizi
From Love's Ripening: Rumi on the Heart's Journey
Translated by K Helminski & A. Rezwani

Ah my friend, what have you brought me ?...by Rumi

Ah my friend, 
what have you brought me ?

You know 
a traveler should not arrive empty handed 
at the door of a friend like me. 
That's going to the grinding stone
without your wheat.

He will ask at the Resurrection,
'Did you bring Me a present? Did you forget?
Did you think you wouldn't see Me?'

Beloved kept teasing,
"Lets have it. I want my gift!"

The Friend began,
"You can't imagine how
I've looked for something for you.
Nothing seemed appropriate.
You don't take gold down into a goldmine, or a
drop of water to the Sea of Oman!

Everything I thought of was like
bringing cumin seed to Kirmanshah where
cumin comes from.

You have all seeds in your barn.
You even have my love and my soul,
so I can't even bring those.

I've brought you a mirror.
Look at yourself, and remember me."

He took the mirror out from his robe
where he was hiding it.

What is the mirror of being?
Non-being.

Always bring a mirror of non-existence
as a gift.
Any other present is foolish.

~ Rumi
Mathnawi, I,
Version by Coleman Barks
(Developed from the translation by Nicholson)
"The Essential Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

As long as you are not displeased with me, I do not care what I face...by Rabia Basri

To You, my Beloved,
I complain of my weakness,
and my lack of support
and the humiliation I suffer from my fellowmen.

O the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful!
You are the Lord of the weak,
and you are my Beloved.
To whom do You leave me?
To a distant person who receives me with hostility?
Or to an enemy You have given power over me?

As long as You are not displeased with me,
I do not care what I face.
Your forgiveness is all
that matters to me

I seek refuge in the light of Your Countenance
By which all darkness is dispelled
and dissolve all challenges of the world
and the hereafter,
lest Your wrath descends upon me.

I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction
To You is the supplication
Until it reaches Your Rida

Verily there is no power
and might
other than You.

~ Rabia Basri
(What is Rida ?
It is the Perfect Contentment out of Love of the Beloved.)