If you serve God....by Rumi

Though you read 
a hundred volumes without a pause, 

You won't remember 
a single point without the Divine decree; 

But if you serve God
and read not a single book,

You'll learn rare sciences
within your own heart.

~ Rumi
Mathnawi VI:1931-1932
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996

It’s time to pray....by Rumi

Forget your life. Say God is Great. 
Get up.

You think you know what time it is. 
It’s time to pray.

You’ve carved so many little figurines, too many.
Don’t knock on any random door like a beggar.

Reach your long hands out to another door,
beyond where you go on the street,
the street where everyone says,
“How are you?”
and no one says How aren’t you?

Tomorrow you’ll see
what you’ve broken and torn tonight,
thrashing in the dark. Inside you
there’s an artist you don’t know about.
He’s not interested in how things look different in moonlight.

If you are here unfaithfully with us,
you’re causing terrible damage.
If you’ve opened your loving to God’s love,
you’re helping people you don’t know
and have never seen.

Is what I say true ?
Say yes quickly,
if you know, if you’ve known it
from before the beginning of the universe.

~ Rumi
From Open Secret
Versions by Coleman Barks

I am in love with....by Hafiz

I am in love with every church 
And mosque 
And temple 
...And any kind of shrine 

Because I know it is there 
That people say the different names
Of the One God.

Would you tell your friends
I was a bit strange if I admitted
I am indeed in love with every mind
And heart and body.

O I am sincerely
Plumb crazy
About your every thought and yearning
And limb

Because, my dear,
I know
That it is through these
That you search for Him.

~ Hafiz

Do you know how beautiful you are? by Hafiz

Do you know how beautiful you are?

I think not, my dear.

For as you talk of God,
I see great parades with wildly colorful bands
Streaming from your mind and heart,
Carrying wonderful and secret messages
To every corner of this world.

I see saints bowing in the mountains
Hundreds of miles away
To the wonder of sounds
That break into light
From your most common words.

Speak to me of your mother,
Your cousins and your friends.

Tell me of squirrels and birds you know.
Awaken your legion of nightingales—
Let them soar wild and free in the sky.

And begin to sing to God.
Let’s all begin to sing to God!

Do you know how beautiful you are?

I think not, my dear,

Yet Hafiz
Could set you upon a Stage
And worship you forever!

~ Hafiz

Art by Robert Foster

Love has Befriended Hafiz so completely...by Hafiz

I
Have
Learned
So much from God 

That I can no longer
Call
Myself A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim
A Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me
That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, and angel
Or even pure
Soul.

Love has
Befriended Hafiz so completely
It has turned to ash
And freed
Me

Of every concept and image
My mind has ever known.

~ Hafiz,
Persian poet (1315 – 1390),
translated by Daniel Lazinsky.

The Drop That Became The Sea..by Yunus Emre

Dervishood tells me, you cannot become a dervish
So what can I tell you? You cannot become a dervish.

A dervish needs a wounded heart and eyes full of tears.
He needs to be as easy going as a sheep.
You can’t be a dervish.

He must be without hands when someone hits him.
He must be tongueless when cursed.
A dervish needs to be without any desire.
You can’t be a dervish.

You make a lot of sounds with your tongue, meaningful things.
You get angry about this and that.
You can’t be a dervish.

If it were all right to be angry on this path,
Beloved himself would have gotten angry.
Because of your anger, you can’t be a dervish.

Unless you find a real path, unless you find a guide,
unless Truth grants you your portion,
you can’t be a dervish.

Therefore, dervish Yunus, come,
dive into the ocean now and then.
Unless you dive in the ocean, you cannot be a dervish.

The drink sent down from Truth,
we drank it, glory be to God.
And we sailed over the Ocean of Power,
glory be to God.

Beyond those hills and oak woods,
beyond those vineyards and gardens,
we passed in health and joy, glory be to God.

We were dry, but we moistened,
We grew wings and became birds,
we married one another and flew,
glory be to God.

To whatever lands we came,
in whatever hearts, in all humanity,
we planted the meanings Taptuk taught us,
glory be to God.

Come here, let’s make peace,
let’s not be strangers to one another.
We have saddled the horse
and trained it, glory be to God.

We became a trickle that grew into a river.
We took flight and dove into the sea,
and then we overflowed, glory be to God.

We came down to the valley for winter,
we did some good and some bad things.
Now it’s spring and we’ll return, glory be to God.

We became servants at Taptuk’s door.
Poor Yunus, raw and tasteless,
finally got cooked, glory be to God.

~ Yunus Emre
The Drop That Became The Sea
Selected Lyric Poetry of Yunus Emre
by Yunus Emre, Kabir Helminski

I heard God laughing- Hafiz Sufi Poet