Do Not Run Away from Me

Do not run away from me!

Did I not tell you, in this empty fantasy,

even if for centuries you wander angrily,

you will never find another true companion like me.

You may cross a thousand deserts,

following caravans beneath unfamiliar stars;

yet every road beneath your restless feet

will quietly curve back toward my heart.

You may drink from distant fountains,

seeking sweetness in every passing face;

but the thirst that carries my name

will remain untouched within you.

Do not mistake separation for freedom.

A bird may escape from its cage,

yet still circle the house

where it first learned how to sing.

I have not loved you with ordinary love—

the kind that flowers in spring

and disappears when winter

lays its cold hand upon the garden.

I loved you before the first dawn

opened its golden eyes;

before the moon learned

to follow the longing sea.

Be angry, then.

Scatter my letters into the wind.

The wind itself is my messenger;

it will whisper every word back to you.

Hide behind silence,

behind distance, behind pride—

but how will you hide from the One

who lives inside your breathing?

When the night grows endless

and no lamp remains beside you,

close your eyes:

you will find me burning there.

I am not asking you to return

with apologies or explanations.

Love keeps no account

of who departed and who remained.

Come as rain comes to the earth—

without shame for having wandered.

Come as the river comes to the sea—

empty of every name but surrender.

And should you travel for centuries,

through every kingdom of this world,

your final step will bring you here—

where I have always waited within you.

~ Rumi

1st Stranga is by Rumi additions and editing in poem by Andy Lal

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 When You Walk Among the Flowers

My Love, you are nearer than the breath
That Heaven entrusted to my soul.
Before I knew your sacred name,
The stars had whispered it to me.

You are the quiet dawn
Resting upon the eyelids of the earth;
The first white rose that teaches spring
How beauty learns to bloom.

Walk once into the garden, Beloved,
And every blossom shall bow its fragrant head.
The proud cedar will soften its ancient pride,
The lily will forget its thousand songs.

The moon has borrowed all her silver
From the light that sleeps within your eyes;
The rivers learned their gentle music
From the kindness of your voice.

When you smile,
Even the lonely clouds
Lay down their grief
Upon the hills in peace.

The wind that wanders through the valleys
Returns perfumed by your passing;
And every bird, astonished into silence,
Listens for your footsteps among the leaves.

If beauty were a kingdom,
You would be its unseen Queen;
Not crowned by jewels,
But by the quiet grace that humbles Heaven.

I do not love you as men gather roses,
Fearing tomorrow's fading bloom.
I love you as the sun loves morning—
Without command, without end.

Should all the stars abandon night,
Should oceans forget the moon,
Still my heart would know its way to you,
As rivers remember the sea.

For you are not merely the flower I admire,
You are the garden where my soul has always lived.

And if Paradise should ask me
What miracle I carried from the earth,

I would whisper only your name.

~ Andy Lal 

 Love Is water Meant to Be Free

Love is not a fist,
not a door bolted from inside,
not a cage made of Gold
by the trembling hands of desire.

Love is water
resting in the open palm —
clear, breathing, alive,
trusting the kindness of space.

Hold it gently,
and it stays like a small sky
between your fingers,
a blue silence shining in your hand.

But close your hand,
claim it, command it,
call it mine too loudly —
and it escapes through every wound of possession.

This is how love teaches us:
not by staying where it is trapped,
but by leaving the hand
that forgot how to remain open.

Let the one you love
walk with their own wind.
Let their soul keep its windows,
its distance, its morning, its wings.

Give,
but do not count the return.
Speak,
but do not chain your words into orders.

Ask,
but do not demand.
Care,
but do not make your caring a prison.

For love is not less
because it is free.
The river does not become yours
because you stand beside it and thirst.

The moon does not belong to the sea,
yet every night
it lays its silver body
upon the waves.

So let love be like that —
near, luminous, unowned;
a presence that blesses,
not a hand that holds too hard.

And when someone you love
chooses their own road,
do not call it betrayal;
perhaps it is only the soul remembering the sky.

Life is not measured
by the breaths we gather,
but by those sudden moments
when beauty steals the breath from us.

Love freely.
Live softly.
Let every heart you touch
remain its own.

For what is truly loved
does not need to be possessed —
it returns, like fragrance,
to the open Air.

~ Andy Lal 

I want to love with a capital L......

My greatest desire in all the world is to hold and be held,
to Connect with a capital C.

To heal and be healed.
To see and be seen. 
To love and be loved----fully. Completely.

Here I am....shouting it out to the world,
to all who read or don't read my words.
To all who take the time to connect. Or not.

I want to love with a capital L.
I want to crack wide open all that stands
in the way of true Truth and true
Love and True Colors.

I want to to hold your heart in mine
like it is my own. Because, really, it is.

Will you let me hold your heart in mine
just for a minute
just for one beautiful breath
or two?

I so want you to know how deeply
how very deeply
I Love
every single bit
of colorful you..!

Come back my Soul......by Rumi

Come back
My Soul,

How much longer
will you linger 
in the garden of deceit ?

I have sent you
a hundred messages

I have shown you
a hundred ways

Either you
never read them

or you
ignore my advice.

Come back
my soul,

do not waste time
with the cold-hearted

they do not know
your worth.

Why do you seek water
when you are the stream ?

Have you forgotten?
You are the king's falcon,

You are a ray
of the Beloved,

a divine wonder.....!

~ Rumi
From Rumi's Little Book of Life: The Garden of the Soul, the Heart, and the Spirit
Art by Rassouli

When love itself comes to kiss you, don't hold back......by Rumi

When love itself
comes to kiss you,

don't hold back!


When the king

goes hunting, the forest smiles.

Now the king has become the place

and all the players, prey, bystander,

bow, arrow, hand and release.
How does that feel?


Last night's dream

enters these open eyes.


When we die

and turn to dust, each particle will

be the whole.

You hear a mote whirl

taking form?


My music.  Love, calm,

patient.


The Friend has waded down

into existence,
gotten stuck, and will not be seen
again outside of

this.


We sometimes make spiderwebs

of smoke and saliva, fragile thought -

packets.


Leave thinking to the one

who gave intelligence .


In silence

there is eloquence.


Stop weaving,

and watch how the pattern improves.

~ Rumi

from the soul of Rumi

translations by Coleman Barks

What a blessing ! What a blessing !.........by Rumi

Don’t hide.
The site of your face
is a blessing.

Wherever you place your foot 
there rests a blessing.

Even your shadow passing over me like swift bird,
is a blessing.

The great Spring has come.
Your sweet air blowing through the city,
the country, the gardens and the desert,
is a blessing.

He has come with love to our door,
his knock is a blessing.

We go from house to house asking of him,
any answer is a blessing.

Caught in this body
we look for a sight of the soul.

Remember what the Beloved said,
one sight is a blessing.

The leaf of every tree brings
a message from the unseen world.

Look,
every falling leaf is a blessing.

All of nature swings in unison
singing without tongues
listening without ears,
what a Blessing.

O Soul
the four elements are your face
Water, wind, fire and earth
Each one is a blessing.

Once the seed of faith takes root,
it cannot be blown away,
even by the strongest wind
Now that's a blessing.

I bow to you
for the dust of your feet
is the crown on my head

And as i walk towards you
every step i take is a blessing.

His form appeared before me
just now as i was singing this poem

I Swear
What a blessing ! What a blessing !

Every vision born of earth is fleeting
Every vision born of heaven is a blessing

For People
the sight of spring warms their hearts

For Fish
the rhythm of ocean is blessing

The brilliant sun that shines in every heart
for heaven's earth and all creatures
What a blessing !

The heart can't wait to speak of this ecstasy
The soul is kissing the earth saying
Oh God what a blessing !

Fill me with shine of your silence
Let it soak my every pore

For the inner splendor it reveals
Is a blessing
Is a blessing.

~ Rumi
From The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi
By Andrew Harvey