Rumi

GUEST HOUSE
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.


-- Rumi --

Wow, CodeBorg... Thanks for posting that. A deep thought for a cold Wednesday morning. I am impressed with the idea of being open to all things and knowing you can learn, even from disaster.

Welcome to a2k! I see you're "newly hatched"... I hope you are enjoying yourself. If you need any assistance, please ask. I'd be happy to help.

So, do you have any more Rumi to offer?

It's good to see Rumi on A2k. When I get home, (I'm at work now) I'll be back with some of my favorites.

DAILY POEMS FROM RUMI



I arrived once again, like the spring breeze;
I rose like the sun visible to all.
I am the Sun in mid-summer, contrary to the old season;
I have brought liveliness and joy to gardens.
A thousand ring doves are searching for me in their songs.
A thousand nightingales and parrots are flying in my directions.
The news of my arrival reached the fish in the sea;
The ferment of the sea created a thousand waves.

(Divan 1140:1-4)

LOVE IS THE MASTER

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.

A POEM FROM RUMI



O lovers! O lovers! I turn dust into jewel.
O musicians! I fill your instruments with gold.
O thirsty ones, I shall be the water-bearer today;
And I turn this dry dusty land into paradise, into the river Kawsar.
O lonely ones, relief has come!
I turn everyone afflicted with sadness into a king.
O the elixir, look at me! for I
Turn a hundred convents into mosques, a hundred gallows into pulpits.
O unbelievers, I shall release you all;
For I am in full command, I give faith and I take it away.

(Divan 1374:1-5)

Poems from Rumi


O lovers! O lovers! I turn dust into jewel.
O musicians! I fill your instruments with gold.
O thirsty ones, I shall be the water-bearer today;
And I turn this dry dusty land into paradise, into the river Kawsar.
O lonely ones, relief has come!
I turn everyone afflicted with sadness into a king.
O the elixir, look at me! for I
Turn a hundred convents into mosques, a hundred gallows into pulpits.
O unbelievers, I shall release you all;
For I am in full command, I give faith and I take it away.

(Divan 1374:1-5)

Poetry from Rumi


He plays a beautiful tune, I dance to it;
Love plays a new game on me every instant.
he teases me sometimes:'go sit in a corner!'
Just as I sit in the corner, he calls me back.
Today, he is going to fly me like a hawk again;
What does he want to capture by me?

who does he want me to go after?
I am as generous as thunder, as talkative as the cloud;
Raindrops fall when he embraces me.
My cloud is generous because it partakes of his sea;
I know not on whom he shall make me rain.
When he makes me rain, it is never in vain;
For he lets me, then, live in a hundred plants.

(Divan 208:4-9)

Poetry From Rumi


If the flowers of His face, from the garden they are in, burst into laughter;
The spring of life would be renewed, the tree of body would burst into laughter.
If that essence of the essence of life appeared all by Himself;
My body would come to life with the grace, my soul would burst into laughter.
If that speaker par excellence opened His mouth to speak;
The dead body would gain the power of speech, the stuttering heart would burst into laughter.
If that master of all beauty revealed the beauty of His face;
All the robes of beauty would [be torn apart] burst into laughter.

(Divan 2525:1-2, 4-5,7)

Rumi Poetry For 3/14/03


Get up! do not sleep! we have come close.
We have already heard the dog and the rooster of that neighborhood.
By God they were signs from the village of the beloved;
All the flowers that we grazed on.
Get up! do not sleep! it is daytime.
The morning star has risen and we see the footprints.
It was night and the whole caravan was locked up in a caravanserai;
Get up! for we have rid ourselves of the dark and of the prison.

(Divan 1480:1-2, 8-9)

Great stuff, this may be my favorite, it is so evocative. Rumi is the Shalimar perfume of poets. I want to memorize this and say it in the dark of the morning to my horse. She would appreciate it.

I have come without a heart, without a soul;
Look at my color, read the lines on my face, O my boy!
No, I am wrong, I have not come at all, you came to me;
You came with me, hidden in my existence, O my boy!
Simile in the face of fire like a piece of gold;
And good fortune will smile at you. O my boy!

In the tavern of my heart there are thoughts
Fighting each other like drunks, O my boy!
Bear [with me] and listen to the clamor of the intoxicated;
Ah, the door broke! the doorman run away! O my boy!
I have come, and I have brought you a mirror;
Look at yourself, do not turn your face, O my boy!
My blasphemy is a mirror for your faith;
Behold the blasphemy that is faith! O my boy!
I cry out in silence;
I have come to be a silent speaker, O my boy!

(Divan 1098:1-8)

Piffka:

Be my guest!

POEM FROM RUMI



O, the sky who turns above our head!
In love of the sun, you share the same mantle with me.
By God you are in love - and I shall tell what reveals your secret:
Inside and out you are radiant and lush.
You do not get soaked in the sea, you are not bound to the earth;
You do not burn in fire, and are not disturbed by the wind.
O the millstone! which is the water that makes you turn?
Tell me! perhaps you are a wheel made of Iron.
You turn one way and make the earth green [with raindrops] like paradise;
Then you turn the other way and uproot the trees [in storm].
The sun turn the other way and uproot the trees [in a storm].
The sunis a candle and you a moth in action;
Weaving your web around this candle.
You are a pilgrim wearing in Ihram turquoise in color
Like pilgrims you are in circumambulation in Ka'bah.
God said:'whoever performed Hajj is safe';
O dutiful wheel [of the sky!] you are safe from harm.

Everything is a pretext, there is love and nothing besides love;
Love is the house of God and you are living in that house.
I will say no more, for it is not possible to say;
God knows how much more is in me crying out to be told.

(Divan 2997:1-10)

[I hope] you do not intend to be unkind to my heart, for if you do
Woe unto my heart! woe unto my heart! woe unto my heart! woe unto my heart.

LOVE IS THE MASTER

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.

LOVE IS THE MASTER

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.

I shall now catch that essence of all images
A good snare I have prepared for that Ka'bah [that beloved] of mine!
The walls may hear, speak in lower voice;
O my intelligence climb up the roof [to guard]! O my heart keep the doors closed!
The enemy, while in ambush, has but one concern;
To hear a thing and to spread it around.
Though invisible, the particles are enemies;
Speak in the bottom of a well [if you must], keep vigil at the time of dawn.

One day the thought of the enemy, not even himself,
Entered in my heart in order to pass through.
He heart just one riddle of my secrets;
Soon he was rushing around, revealing it to one and all.
Since that day, my road companions and I have made the covenant
To hide our secrets, to keep our heads bent down.
We are people, we are not less than stone in a mine;
Queitly enduring agony, it found the gold.


The tightfisted sea! in its willful silence
Says: 'I know nothing,
I have not seen any pearls!'

(Divan 109:1-9)





Translated by Fatemeh

What a great story behind this one... and so well told. These are such a treat, thanks, New Haven!