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

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. ~ Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

~ Max Ehrmann

My heart is the throne of the Beloved......by Yunus Emre

My heart is the throne of the Beloved,
the Beloved the heart’s destiny:

Whoever breaks another’s heart will find no homecoming
in this world or any other.

The ones who know say very little
while the beasts are always speaking volumes;

One word is enough for one who knows.

If there is any meaning in the holy books, it is this:
Whatever is good for you, grant it to others too

Whoever comes to this earth migrates back;
Whoever drinks the wine of love
understands what I say

Yunus, don’t look down at the world in scorn

Keep your eyes fixed on your Beloved’s face,
then you will not see the bridge
on Judgment Day.

~ Yunus Emre

Why not spread perfume? ~ Rumi

We are all Spiritual beings
having a physical experience.

We are rubies
in the midst of granite.

We are imbued with
resplendent majesty but

We insist on
remaining shriveled
and withered in our prison of dust.

Why not become fresh
from the gentleness of the heart-spring?

Why not laugh…
like a rose?

Why not spread
perfume?

~ Rumi

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”)

Admit something...by Hafiz

Admit something: 

Everyone you see, you say to them, 
“Love me.” 

Of course you do not do this out loud; 
Otherwise,
Someone would call the cops.

Still though, think about this,
This great pull in us
To connect.

Why not become the one
Who lives with a full moon in each eye
That is always saying,

With that sweet moon
Language,

What every other eye in this world
Is dying to
Hear.

~ Hafiz
from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz,
transl. Daniel Ladinsky.

Covers Her Face With Both Hands....by Hafiz

What
We speak
Becomes the house we live in.

Who will want to sleep in your bed
If the roof leaks
Right above
It?

Look what happens when the tongue
Cannot say to kindness,

“I will be your slave.”

The moon
Covers her face with both hands

And can't bear
To look.

~ Hafiz
from Daniel Ladinsky’s book, The Gift: Poems by HAFIZ.