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

LOVE IS THE MASTER....BY RUMI

Love is the One who masters all things; 
I am mastered totally by Love. 

By my passion of love for Love 
I have ground sweet as sugar. 

O furious Wind, I am only a straw before you;
How could I know where I will be blown next ?

Whoever claims to have made a pact with Destiny
Reveals himself a liar and a fool;

What is any of us but a straw in a storm ?
How could anyone make a pact with a hurricane ?

God is working everywhere his massive Resurrection;
How can we pretend to act on our own ?

In the hand of Love I am like a cat in a sack;
Sometimes Love hoists me into the air,
Sometimes Love flings me into the air,

Love swings me round and round His head;
I have no peace, in this world or any other.

The lovers of God have fallen in a furious river;
They have surrendered themselves to Love's commands.

Like mill wheels they turn, day and night, day and night,
Constantly turning and turning, and crying out.

~ Rumi
(LOVE IS THE MASTER)
Trans by Andrew Harvey
Art by Hayrettin Karaerkek

Get yourself a Beloved....by Rumi

The real fortune and highway of success 
lies in the business 
that comes to you after utter defeat. 

Give up the business that has no reality: 
pay attention, old donkey, get yourself a Beloved.

May none but the Beloved
be your master and captain!

Not the old man
of the rolling sky, Father Time,
but the Beloved of right guidance.

What is required is self-surrender,
not long toil:
it's useless to rush about in error.

From now on I won't seek
the way to the highest heaven:

I will seek the Beloved,
I will seek the Beloved, the Beloved,
the Beloved!

The Beloved
is the ladder to Heaven:

By whom is the arrow made to fly ?
By the bow.

~ Rumi
Mathnawi VI: 4119-4121; 4123-4125
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996

Art by Reza Sepahdari