Invisible world....by Rumi

The prophets have wondered to themselves, 
"How long should we keep pounding this cold iron?
How long do we have to whisper into an empty cage?" 

Every motion of created beings comes from the creator. 

The first soul pushes, and your second soul responds,
beginning, so don't stay timid.

Load the ship and set out.
No one knows for certain whether the vessel will sink
or reach the harbor.

Cautious people say,
"I'll do nothing until I can be sure."
Merchants know better.
If you do nothing, you lose.

Don't be one of those merchants who won't risk the ocean!
This is much more important than losing or making money.

This is your connection to God!
You must set fire to have light.
Trust means you're ready to risk what you currently have.

Think of your fear and hope about your livelihood.
They make you go to work diligently every day.

Now consider what the prophets have done.
Abraham wore fire for an anklet.
Moses spoke to the sea.
David molded iron.
Solomon rode the wind.

Work in the invisible world
at least as hard as you do in the visible.

Be companions with the prophets
even though no one here will know that you are,
not even the helpers of the qutb, the abdals.

You can't imagine what profit will come!
When one of those generous ones invites you
into his fire, go quickly!
Don't say, "But will it burn me? Will it hurt!"

~ Rumi
Mathnawi III 3077-3109
by Coleman Barks
From Rumi : One Handed Basket Weaving
Mypop 1991

When you are not with me...by Rumi

When you are not with me, 
I sometimes resemble a fish put live in the skillet, 
writhing its little cooking time left, 
or the empty eyes of graffiti faces, or 
a house with no one home. 

Other times, my love for your soul
spreads out over the city like music.
Quadrant to quadrant
the jeweled tambourine feet move,
palace to ghetto.

The cultured, the craftsman, the slave,
all begin to hum and sing this.

~ Rumi
(Tambourine Feet)
Ghazal (Ode) 2323
Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999

This is our shadow ......by Rumi

Destiny 
is not under control of our Heart

Being 
is the means of reaching Non - Being 

There is someone who looks after us
From behind the curtain

In truth , we are not here
This is our shadow

~ Rumi
From Crazy as we are
by Nevit O Ergin

I see my beauty in you....by Rumi

I see my beauty in you. 
I become a mirror
that cannot close its eyes to your longing. 
My eyes wet with yours in the early light. 

My mind every moment giving birth, 

always conceiving, always in the the ninth month….

And then, an empty sky
and everything is soul and flowering.
Everything is soul and flowering.

Every thing is soul and flowering.
How do I stand this?
We become these words we say….

This poetry.
I never know what I’m
going to say.

I don’t plan it.
When I’m outside the saying of it,
I hardly speak at all.

~ Rumi

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?)