RUMI - THREE POEMS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE - IF YOU ALLOW CHANGE
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there.
Let Love,
Let Love,
the water of life,
flow through our veins.
Let a Love-drunk mirror
steeped in the wine of dawn
translate night.
You who pour the wine,
put the cup of oneness in my hand
and let me drink from it
until I can’t imagine separation.
Love, you are the archer.
My mind is your prey.
Carry my heart
and make my existence your bull’s-eye.
From Gold: Poems by Rumi (New York Review Books, 2022). Translated from the Persian by Haleh Liza Gafori. Copyright © 2022 by Haleh Liza Gafori. Used with the permission of the author.
Let’s love each other
translated from the Farsi by Haleh Liza Gafori
Let’s love each other,
let’s cherish each other, my friend,
before we lose each other.
You’ll long for me when I’m gone.
You’ll make a truce with me.
So why put me on trial while I’m alive?
Why adore the dead but battle the living?
You’ll kiss the headstone of my grave.
Look, I’m lying here still as a corpse,
dead as a stone. Kiss my face instead!
Come out, come close.
translated from the Farsi by Haleh Liza Gafori
Come out, come close.
Why hide? Why deceive?
You are me and I am you.
Why get mired in me’s and you’s?
We are light upon light—
and the glass light passes through.
Why muddy ourselves with a grudge?
Together, we are whole and complete.
Why see through eyes that split one in two?
Why do the rich look down on the poor?
Why does the right hand scorn the left?
Both are from one body.
Why call one vile and one blessed?
One essence, one intelligence
thrust us into one curved cosmos.
Where the soul counts one,
the mind insists on two.
Five senses, six directions—drop the lot.
Leap forth. Let oneness
draw you closer, and draw you in.
There you are a gold mine,
not just a nugget of gold.
There’s one spirit in countless bodies,
one oil in countless almonds,
one meaning in countless words
uttered by countless tongues.
Shatter the jugs. The water is one.
Steeped in union, the heart remembers
a world beyond words.
Soul, send the news.
From Gold: Poems by Rumi (New York Review Books, 2022). Translated from the Persian by Haleh Liza Gafori. Copyright © 2022 by Haleh Liza Gafori. Used with the permission of the author.
“Rumi is one of the great souls, and one of the great spiritual teachers. He shows us our glory. He wants us to be more alive, to wake up… He wants us to see our beauty, in the mirror and in each other.”
Comments
Post a Comment
COMMENTS