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..!

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

I lean as close to your body with my words As I can.......by Hafez

Because the Woman I love lives
Inside of you,

I lean as close to your body with my words
As I can

And I think of you all the time, dear pilgrim.

Because the One I love goes with you
Wherever you go,
Hafiz will always be near.

If you sat before me, wayfarer,
With your aura bright from your many
Charms,

My lips could resist rushing to you and needing
To befriend your blushed cheek,

But my eyes can no longer hide
The wondrous fact of who
You Really are.

The Beautiful One whom I adore
Has pitched His royal tent inside of you,

So I will always lean my heart
As close to your soul
As I can.

~ Hafez
“The Woman I Love” by Hafiz,
translated by Daniel Ladinsky
from The Subject Tonight is Love by Daniel Ladinsky,
published by Penguin Compass. Copyright © 2003 by Daniel Ladinsky

The Ambience of Love......by Hafez

We All

Sit in His orchestra,

Some play their
Fiddles,

Some wield their
Clubs,

Tonight is worthy of music.

Let's get loose
With
Compassion,

Let's drown in the delicious
Ambience of
Love.

~ Hafiz
"The Ambience of Love"
from The Gift
Translations by Daniel Ladinsky

In the realm of lovers There is only one beloved.....by Rumi

In the realm of lovers
There is only one beloved

In this realm of lovers
There is no coming nor going

Lovers wander
Looking for each other

There is no need for this wandering
The soul of lovers Lives in a place beyond time

The one beloved
Searching for herself in the other

Let us become passionate lovers

Lovers in life
Lovers in death
Lovers in the tomb
Lovers on the day of resurrection
Lovers in paradise
Lovers forever

If you have not known this love
don’t count your life as lived
On the Day of Judgment
it will not be counted

There is a bazaar
Where love is traded for free

There is a river of wine
Where drunken merriment knows no rest
Where burning passion knows no repose
Where billions of galaxies dance
Where restless lovemaking
Gives birth to universe upon universe

~ Rumi

I SAW TWO BIRDS....by Hafiz

Both of our mouths
Can fit upon this flute I carry.

My music will sound
So much sweeter that way
With your breath and my breath
Poking each other in the ribs
And kissing.

I saw two birds on a limb this morning
Laughing with the sun.
They reminded me of how
We will one day exist.

My dear,
Keep thinking about God,
Keep thinking about the Beloved
And soon our nest will be the
Whole firmament.

Forget about all your desires for truth,
We have gone far beyond that.
For now it is just
Pure need.

Both our hearts are meant to sing.
Both our souls are destined to touch
And kiss
Upon this holy flute
God carries.

~ Hafiz
The Gift

This sky where we live is no place to lose your wings So love, love, love. ~ Hafiz

“This place where you are right now,
God circled on a map for you.”

”One regret, dear world,
That I am determined not to have
When I am lying on my deathbed
Is that
I did not kiss you enough.”

“I should not make any promises right now,
But I know if you
Pray
Somewhere in this world –
Something good will happen.”

“I wish I could show you,
When you are lonely or in the darkness,
The Astonishing Light
Of your own Being!”

“This sky where we live is no place to lose your wings
So love, love, love.”

~ Hafiz

City of Love.....by Rumi

I’ve travelled around
raced through every city
while I knew all along
no place could be found
like the city of love

If I could have known
to value what I owned
I would not have suffered
like a fool
the life of a vagabond

I’ve heard many tunes
all over the globe
all empty
as a kettledrum
except the music of love

it was the sound of
that hollow drum
that made me fall
from the heavens
to this mortal life

i used to soar
among souls
like a heart’s flight
winglessly roaming and
celestially happy

i used to drink
like a flower that drinks
without lips or throat
of the wine that overflows
with laughter and joy

Suddenly
I was summoned by love
to prepare for a journey
to the temple of
suffering

I cried desperately
I begged and pleaded
and shredded my clothes
not to be sent
to this world

Just the way I fear now
going away
to the other world
I was frightened then
to make my descent

Love asked me to go
with no fear to be alone
promising to be close
everywhere I go
closer than my veins

Love threw its spell
its magic and allure
using coyness and charm
I was totally sold and
bought everything with joy

Who am I to resist
love’s many tricks
and not to fall
while the whole world
takes love’s bait

Love showed me
a path but then
lost me on the way
if I could have resisted
I would have found my way

I can show you my friend
surely how you can get there
but here and now
my pen has broken down
before telling you how.

~ Rumi
Art by Rassouli

Beyond love stories.....by Rumi

“Love comes with a knife,
not some shy question,
and not with fears for its reputation.

I say these things disinterestedly.
Accept them in kind.

Love is a madman,
working his wild schemes,
tearing off his clothes,
drinking poison, and now quietly
choosing annihilation.

A tiny spider tries to wrap
an enormous wasp. Think of the spiderweb
woven across the cave where Muhammed slept.

There are love stories,
and there is obliteration into love.

You have been walking the ocean’s edge,
holding up your robes to keep them dry.

You must dive deeper under,
a thousand times deeper.

Love flows down. The ground
submits to the sky and suffers what comes.

Is the ground worse for giving like that?
Do not put blankets over the drum.
Open completely.

Let your spirit ear listen
to the green dome’s passionate murmur.

Let the cords of your robe be untied.
Shiver in this new love
beyond all above and below.

The sun rises,
but which way does the night go?

I have no more words.
Let the soul speak
with the silent articulation of a face.”

~ Rumi,( “Beyond Love Stories”)

When love beckons to you, follow him...by Kahlil Gibran

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height
and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you
that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness
and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh,
but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say,
"God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart
and a song of praise upon your lips.

~ Kahlil Gibran
( on Love )

Sacred paradoxes....by Rumi

Off with you! 
Know that the lover's religion is
contrary to other ways, 
for false dealings from the Friend
are better than sincerity and kindliness.

What is unthinkable for Him is the actual state,
His chastisement the reward, all of His tyranny justice,
His slander equity.

His harshness is soft,
His synagogue the Kaaba
the thorn driven home by the Heart-ravisher
is sweeter than roses and basil.

When He is sour,
He is more excellent than a house of sugar;
when He comes to you in annoyance,
He is all affection and kisses.

When He says to you, "By God, I am sick of you!",
that is Khidr's elixir from the Fountain of Life.

When He says "No!"
a thousand yea's are hidden within it;
in this religion of the selfless,
He becomes family
and self by remaining a stranger.

His unbelief is faith, His stones all coral,
His miserliness generosity, His offenses all forgiveness.

If you taunt me and say,
"Your religion is bent out of shape!"
well, I have bought the religion of His bent
eyebrow for the price of my spirit.

This bent religion has made me drunk! Enough!
I will shut my lips you continue,
oh illuminated heart, and
recite the rest silently!

Oh Beloved ! Oh my Shams of God Tabrizi!
What sugar you pour down!
You voice a hundred arguments and
proofs from my mouth!

~ Rumi
Ghazal 1869,
from the Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love - The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi"
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1983
Art by Semmick Photo

don't wander far.... ~ Belle Heywood

When you leave from here my dear
don't go plunging into the hell realms.
without a decision to remain in love
you may well fall there.

But know that it is completely up to you
whether you become lost, lonely, confused or not

I know, because i have been to heaven too
I have been to the Purelands...
and i have had to leave

but it was up to me
i see now
what happened to me next

When you leave from here my dear
don't go plunging into the hell realms
where the suffering is so great
there is barely no chance to have one's ears
free enough from agony
long enough to hear a syllable of Dharma

It is a very very very long journey out of hell
so please, come back
to where you can govern your mind
with more ease now my dear

and don't wander far....

~ Belle Heywood
(don't wander far....)
Photo Belle Heywood

I only speak of the Sun because the Sun is my Master.....by Rumi

I only speak of the Sun
because the Sun is my Master
I worship even the dust at His feet.

I am not a night-lover and do not praise sleep
I am the messenger of the Sun!

Secretly I will ask him
and pass the answers to you.

Like the Sun
I shine on those who are forsaken

I may look drunk and disheveled
but I speak the Truth.

Tear off the mask,
your face is glorious,

your heart may be cold as stone but
I will warm it with my raging fire.

No longer will I speak
of sunsets or rising Moons,

I will bring you love's wine
for I am born of the Sun
I am a King!

~ Rumi
Ghazal (Ode) 1621
Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001
Art by Carol Bostan

You are the Master Alchemist......by Rumi

You come to us from another world;
From beyond the stars and a void of space

Transcendent, pure – of unimaginable beauty.
Bringing with You the essence of Love.

You transform all who are touched by You
Mundane concerns, troubles and sorrows dissolve in Your presence
Bringing joy to ruler & ruled, to peasants and kings.

You bewilder us with Your grace;
All evil is transformed into goodness.
You are the Master Alchemist!

You light the fire of Love in earth & sky,
In heart & soul of every being.

Through Your loving,
existence & non-existence merge

All opposites unite
All that is profane becomes sacred again.

~ Rumi
Art by Tissot

The task of my life is love.....by Jami

The task of my life is love
The reason of my life is love
The sum of my life is love

My mind has completely gone for love
My heart and soul are always protected by love.

I need to come back to my senses
So I can start my preaching about love.

Unless your chest gets that burning feeling
Every time love is mentioned,
You can never truly explain the meaning of love.

May my Helper from High Above
Bestow more knowledge upon me,
So I can continue my research studies on love.

I feel my chest is burning for love right now,
So here are my humble explanations
Of the good old love

Love is just a poor moth
In front of the Eternal flame .
Those burning marks on the moth
Are for the sake of the everlasting love.

A soul without love,
Is just a lifeless dead corpse.
A soul blessed by love,
Remains forever alive.

Seek the very essence of your life
In love.
Search your own inner treasures
In love.

Wherever it might be,
Love is always the alchemy of all things.
Even worthless copper touched by love,
Turns into solid gold.

Love is not meant
To get attached to this material world,
Love means giving up on both worlds.

Love is not meant
To simply wish for eternal union with the Beloved,
Love means getting burned and consumed
In the flames of self-annihilation first.

A lover is the one
Who happily sings the song of self-annihilation
While letting go of his own self.

A lover is the one
Who not only gives up the wealth of this world,
But also ignores the rewards of the Hereafter.

A lover’s lifelong quest
Is finding the direction of the Friend
Because anything and anyone but the Friend,
Is simply a mirage.

A lover even gives up
On his closest loved ones,
For the sake of eternal mystical union
With the Friend.

A lover even abandons
The joyous company of his friends,
In order to follow as the Friend commands.

At any given moment,
A lover stands in total awe of love.
And in every breath taken,
A lover cherishes the blessing of love.

~ Jami
Iran/Persia (1048 - 1141)
(Love Of Maulana Jami in spiritual journey The Meaning of Love )

Come come come my endless desires 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 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'm 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 your love
come come come

~ Rumi
Ode (Ghazal) 156
Translated by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994
Art by Canan berber

....You Ask How Much I Love You by Charles Wiles

....You Ask How Much I Love You 

You ask how much I love you
And then you ask once more
And so my love I'll tell you now
As I did once before.

I love you more than flowers love
The rising of the sun
I love you more than horses love
The plains on which they run.

I love you more than eagles love
The currents way up high
I love you more than rainbows love
The droplets in the sky.

I love you more than fishes love
The sea in which they swim
I love you more than sea birds love
The waves on which they skim.

I love you more than moonbeams love
The planets as they turn
I love you more than starships love
The gases that they burn.

I love you more than Paris loved
Fair Helen when in Troy
I love you more than any girl
Has every loved a boy.

I love you more than Shakespeare loved
The muses in his verse
I love you more than rich old men
Love money in their purse.

I love you more than lollipops
I love you more than cheese
I even love you somewhat more than
Than honey made by bees!

I love you more than yesterday,
And every day before,
But I think that when tomorrow comes
I'll love you even more.

I love you quite a lot you see
But this I must impress
I love you more than any words
Could ever help express.


~ Charles Wiles

Love is the dancing cry of the soul...by Rumi

Love is the dancing cry of the soul, 
calling the body to worship 

Like a shining whirlpool, 
or a spinning mayfly 
So is love among the skies.

I leap across the mountaintops,
madly singing the song of all songs

I float through the ether, intoxicated, thrilled
I think only of your love, your calling to me

And I dance the thousand dances of love,
all returning to you.

It is not the play of children,
nor the detached unity of wise sages
Unreal! Unnecessary!
Where is the beauty?

When I, like a glowing comet,
may flash around your sun
Laughing, singing,
with the joy of loving you!

Wine makes drunk the mind and body
But it is love which thrills the soul

When I approach you,
I feel the mad pounding of love

The singing wonder
The joy which opens
blossoms on the trees of the world.

Come to me, and I shall dance with you
In the temples, on the beaches, through the crowded streets

Be you man or woman, plant or animal, slave or free
I shall show you the brilliant crystal fires, shining within

I shall show you the beauty deep within your soul
I shall show the path beyond Heaven.

Only dance, and your illusions will blow in the wind
Dance, and make joyous the love around you

Dance, and your veils which hide the Light
Shall swirl in a heap at your feet.

~ Rumi 

I've seen no joy without You in both worlds....by Rumi

I've seen no joy without You 
in both worlds,
I've seen their wonders 
nothing was like You.

I've put the soul's ear 
at the window "Heart"
I've heard some words
but never seen the lips!

You've lavished grace abundant
on Your this lover
I've seen no reason
but Your endless grace.

O My Beloved , dearer than my eyes,
I have Not seen one like You
in Iran, Iraq or whole World .

Pour out such wine
that I may leave myself
I've only seen fatigue in my existence.

You're milk and You are sugar,
sun and moon
I've seen no family like You,
my Beloved !

O endless Love, Divine manifestation
I've seen no name thats worthy of You,
your love ,o beloved helper.

I am like iron scrap
Your love: the magnet.
You, without seeking,
are the source of seeking!

~ Rumi
Ghazal (Ode) N32 (in the Nicholson numbering system; number 1690 in the more commonly used Furuzanfar numbering system)
Translation by Annemarie Schimmel
"Look! This is Love - Poems of Rumi""
Shambhala, 1991