The Friend....by Sufi poet Hazrat Shah Niaz

I am needful lover, who needs you
I will take for granted very dearly
the sorrow of a beloved like you

You are the sun; my eye is alight with your beauty
if I giveup you , to whom I ll go

Everywhere I looked, I have seen the Friend
Revealing Itself at one place, hidden at others.

Somewhere as implicit, somewhere as explicit
Appearing sometime ephemeral, sometime perennial.

Everywhere I looked, I have seen the Friend
Rising and falling, playing hide and seek.

Somewhere He is the King adorning the throne
Somewhere seen as a beggar holding the bowl

Everywhere I looked, I have seen the Great Friend
Revealing itself at one place, hidden at others.

Somewhere He is the golden attire of my enchanting lady
Showing off the charms and seductive gestures

Playing hide and seek
I have seen the Great Friend, wheresoever I looked

Somewhere in the form of lover of Beloved
seen beating his chest and heart aflame

Everywhere I looked, I have seen the Friend
Revealing Itself at one place, hidden at others.
Everywhere I looked, I have seen the Great Friend.

~ Sufi poet Hazrat Shah Niaz
(The Friend)

That which has no clue...by Rumi

At the last you vanished, gone to the Unseen.

Strange the path you took out of this world.
Strange how your beating wings demolished the cage,
and you flew away to the world of the soul.

You were some old woman’s favorite falcon
but when you heard the Falcon Drum
you escaped to the placeless .

You were a drunken nightingale among owls,
but when the scent of the rose garden reached you,
you were gone.

The bitter wine you drank with us left it’s headache,
but at last you entered a timeless tavern.

Like an arrow you went straight for the target of bliss,
straight to the mark like an arrow from a bow.

Like a ghoul, the world tried to deceive you,
with it’s false clues-
but you ignored the clues,
and went straight to that which has no clue.

Now that you are the sun, what good is a crown?
and how do you tie your belt
now that you have no middle?

Heart, what a rare bird you are,
that in your yearning for heaven’s attention.
you flew to the spear-point like a shield!

The rose flees autumn,
but what a foolhardy rose you are,
seeking the autumn wind.

You were rain from another world
that fell upon this dusty earth.

You ran in all directions
and escaped down the gutter.

Be silent. Be free
of the pain of speech.

Don’t sleep since you took refuge
with so loving a friend.

~ Rumi
From The Pocket Rumi,
Edited by Kabir Helminsky,
published by Shambala Pocket Classics

If the Friend rose inside you, would you bow ?...by Rumi

If the Friend rose inside you, 
would you bow ?

Would you wonder where that one 
came from and how? 

If you say,
"I will bow," that's important.

If you answer,
"But can I be sure?"
it will keep the meeting from happening,

As busy people rush there and back here murmuring,
Now I know; no, I don't know now.

Have you seen a camel with its eyes covered turn
and walk one way, then turn another?

Be silent and revolve with no will.
Don't raise your hand to ask anything.

Holy one, sitting in the body's well
like Joseph, a rope is there in front of you.

Lift your hand to that!
A blind man has bought you
for eighteen counterfeit coins.

Empty metal cups bang together,
and the full moon slides out of hiding.

Make one sound, please!
You are the precious hyacinth
that the sickle will spare,
not the wheat plant Adam ate.

I remind you with these poems
to dress in the flower of Beloved's qualities,
not your torn robe of self-accusation.

~ Rumi
Ghazal (Ode) 2938
Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999
Art by Jamie Hartley

Do not keep to yourself the secret of your heart, my friend...by Rabindranath Tagore

Do not keep to yourself 
the secret of your heart, 
my friend !

Say it to me, 
only to me, in secret.

You who smile so gently, softly whisper,
my heart will hear it,
not my ears.

The night is deep, the house is silent,
the birds' nests are shrouded with sleep.

Speak to me through hesitating tears,
through faltering smiles,
through sweet shame and pain,
the secret of your heart !

~ Rabindranath Tagore
The Gardener

The Meeting......by Rumi

When the friend opens the door and says, 
You are here, please come in. 
It is such a pleasure to give up talking 
and listen to his long story 
about Khidr, the guide of souls. 

A tailor cuts cloth uniquely for each person.
Springs open in the center of the lake.
Trees move in the breeze that comes before dawn.

A nightingale sits in the rosebush and asks,
Who do you love? Tell me.
No one else is here.

The rose, So long as you are you,
I cannot. This is the passionate demand,
the one the burning bush made of Moses.

I am a sacred pool. Take off your shoes.
Wade in. You are the essence
of place and placelessness, honored one.
Take my hand.

The needle's eye will not accept
a strand of thread that is folded double.

So it is with you.
You find yourself holding the royal bowl
and welcoming all to the banquet.

The sun stands in the fire up to its chin
so we can have daylight.

When you take the hand of someone you love,
what happens to those hands?

Your darling comes, and you ask,
How can I help? Come here.

Reason wonders, Should I go?
And your loving, Should I run?

The one you love signals,
Yes. I want both of you.

The table is there. Sit down,
Choose the bright company.
Do not worry about food.

Now I pass to you this silence,
so that the alternations of night and day
with their flaming language
may finish the story.

~ Rumi
(The Meeting )
Ghazal 45
Version by Coleman Barks
Rumi: Bridge to the Soul
HarperCollins, 2007

You are drunk and i'm intoxicated...by Rumi

You are drunk
and i'm intoxicated
no one is around
showing us the way home

Again and again
i told you
drink less
a cup or two

I know in this city
no one is sober
one is worse than the other
one is frenzied and
the other gone mad

Come on my friend
step into the tavern of ruins
taste the sweetness of life
in the company of another friend

Here you'll see
at every corner
someone intoxicated
and the cup-bearer
makes her rounds

I went out of my house
a drunkard came to me
someone whose glance
uncovered a hundred
houses in paradise


rocking and rolling
he was a sail
with no anchor but
he was the envy of all those sober ones
remaining on the shore

Where are you from i asked
he smiled in mockery and said
one half from the east
one half from the west
one half made of water and earth
one half made of heart and soul
one half staying at the shores and
one half nesting in a pearl


I begged
take me as your friend
i am your next of kin
he said i recognize no kin
among strangers

I left my belongings and
entered this tavern
i only have a chest
full of words
but can't utter
a single one

~ Rumi
Ghazal 2309
Translated by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Fountain of Fire
Cal-Earth, September 1994

Oh friend, I love you.....by Kabir

Oh friend, I love you, 
think this over carefully! 

If you are in love,
then why are you asleep? 

If you have found him,
give yourself to him, take him.

Why do you lose track of him
again and again?

If you are about to fall into heavy sleep anyway,
why waste time smoothing the bed
and arranging the pillows?

Kabir will tell you the truth:
this is what love is like:

suppose you had to cut your head off
and give it to someone else,
what difference would that make?

~ Kabir
Kabir: Ecstatic Poems
Trans by Robert Bly

Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening...by Mirabai

Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening,
Kissing his feet, resistance broken, tears all night.

If we could reach the Lord through immersion in water,
I would have asked to be born a fish in this life.

If we could reach Him through nothing but berries and wild nuts,
Then surely the saints would have been monkeys
when they came from the womb!

If we could reach him by munching lettuce and dry leaves,
Then the goats would surely go to the Holy One before us!

If the worship of stone statues could bring us all the way,
I would have adored a granite mountain years ago.

Mirabai says:
The heat of midnight tears will bring you to God.

~ Mirabai
From The Winged Energy of Delight,
Translated by Robert Bly
Art by Sanjana Deshpande

You are the only One. ~ Rumi

O Friend, 
You made me lovingly

You clothed me
in a robe of skin and blood

Then planted deep inside me
a seed from Your heart.

You turned the whole world
into a sanctuary where

You are the 
only One.

~ Rumi 

There is a life in you, search that life...by Rumi

There is a life in you, 
search that life,

Search the secret jewel 
in the mountain of your body,

Hey you,
the passing away friend,
look for with all your strength,

Whatever you are looking for,
look in yourself not around.

~ Rumi

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

It is a sign of intimate friendship...by Rumi

It is a sign 
of intimate friendship

when speech flows 
freely from the heart

Without intimacy,
the flow is blocked.

When the heart
has seen the sweetheart
how can it remain bitter ?

When a nightingale
has seen the rose

How can it keep
from singing ?

~ Rumi
Mathnawi VI:2638-2639
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance”
Threshold Books, 1996

Art by Frederick Morgan

You are my love. 
You are my friend. 

You are my way. 
You are my faith. 

You are my body.
You are my spirit.

You are my heart.
You are the spirit of my life.

You are my first, last,
inward, outward,
visible and the invisible .

~ Khawaja Farid