If you were not my medicine.....by Rumi

If I flinched at every grief, 
I would be an intelligent idiot. 

If I were not the sun, 
I'd ebb and flow like sadness. 

If you were not my guide,
I'd wander lost in Sanai.

If you were no my light,
I'd keep opening and closing the door.

If there were no rose garden,
where would the morning breezes go?

If love did not want music and laughter
and poetry, what would I say ?

If you were not my medicine,
I would look sick and skinny.

If there were no leafy limbs in the air,
there would be no wet roots.

If no gifts were given,
I'd grow arrogant and cruel.

If there were no way into God,
I would not have lain in the grave of this body so long.

If there were no way from left to right,
I could not be swaying with the grasses.

If there were no grace and no kindness,
conversation would be useless, and
nothing we do would matter.

Listen to the new stories
that begin every day.

If light were not beginning again in the east,
I would not now wake
and walk out inside this dawn.

~ Rumi
Trans by Coleman Barks
From "The Soul of Rumi"

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

Because you are not with me....by Kabir

"My body and my mind are in depression

because you are not with me.
How much I love you and want you in my house!

When I hear people describe me as your bride
I look sideways ashamed,
because I know that far inside us
we have never met.

Then what is this love of mine?

I don’t really care about food,
I don’t really care about sleep
I am restless indoors and outdoors.

The bride wants her lover
as much as a thirsty man wants water.

And how will I find someone
who will take a message to the Guest from me?

How restless Kabir is all the time!
How much he wants to see the Guest!"

~ KABIR
The Songs of Kabir, tr. by Rabindranath Tagore
( What is this Love of mine?)

Inside this clay jug...by Kabir

Inside this clay jug
there are canyons and
pine mountains,
and the maker of canyons
and pine mountains!

All seven oceans are inside,
and hundreds of millions of stars.

The acid that tests gold is here,
and the one who judges jewels.

And the music
that comes from the strings
that no one touches,
and the source of all water.

If you want the truth, I will tell you the truth:
Friend, listen: the Beloved whom I love is inside.

Why should we two ever want to part?
Just as the leaf of the water rhubarb
lives floating on the water,
we live as the great one and the little one.

As the owl opens his eyes all night to the moon,
we live as the great one and the little one.

This love between us goes back to the first humans:
it cannot be annihilated.

Here is Kabir's idea :
as the river gives itself into the ocean,
what is inside me moves inside you.

~ KABIR
version by Robert Bly
From The Kabir book: forty-four ecstatic poems by Kabir (1977)

I Follow Barefoot...by Hafiz

I Follow Barefoot

I long for You so much
I follow barefoot Your frozen tracks

That are high in the mountains

That I know are years old.

I long for You so much
I have even begun to travel
Where I have never been before.

Hafiz, there is no one in this world
Who is not looking for Beloved.

Everyone is trudging along
With as much dignity, courage
And style

As they possibly
Can.

~ Hafiz
From 'The Subject Tonight is Love -
60 wild and sweet poems of Hafiz'
Versions by Daniel Ladinsky

The moon came to me last night With a sweet question...by Hafiz

The moon came to me last night
With a sweet question.

She said,
"The sun has been my faithful lover
For millions of years.

Whenever I offer my body to him
Brilliant light pours from his heart.

Thousands then notice my happiness
And delight in pointing
Toward my beauty.

Hafiz,
Is it true that our destiny
Is to turn into Light
Itself?"

And I replied,
Dear moon,
Now that your love is maturing,

We need to sit together
Close like this more often

So I might instruct you
How to become
Who you
Are!

~ Hafiz
(Faithful Lover)
Art by by Laura Pelick Siadak

Forgiveness Is The Cash...by Hafiz

Forgiveness Is The Cash

Forgiveness
Is the cash you need.

All the other kinds of silver really buy .. 

Just strange things.

Everything has its music.
Everything has genes of Love inside.

But learn from those courageous addicted lovers
Of glands and opium and gold

Look,
They cannot jump high or laugh long
When they are whirling.

And the moon and the stars become sad
When their tender light is used for
Night wars.

Forgiveness is part of the treasure you need
To craft your falcon wings
And return

To your true realm of
Divine freedom.

~ Hafiz
From 'The Subject Tonight is Love -
60 wild and sweet poems of Hafiz'
Versions by Daniel Ladinsky
Art by Yali Shi