Molana / Molavi / Shams / Rumi

[indian_blues]

whatever happens
to the world around
show me your purpose
show me your source

even if the world
is Godless and chaos
show me your anchor
show me your love

if there is hunger
if there is famine
show me your harvest
show me your resource

if life is bitter
everywhere snakes everywhere poison
show me your garden
show me your meadow

if the sun and the moon fall
if darkness rules the world
show me your light
show me your flame

if i have no mouth
or tongue to utter
words of your secrets
show me your fountain

i'll keep silence
how can i express
your life when mine
still is untold

-- Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994

[indian_blues]

Here He comes
A moon whose light the sky never saw
even in her dreams,
Crowned with an eternal flame
no flood can hope to quench.

His cup, long out of reach, now spills over,
filling my senses,
desolating my soul.

The saaqi has become my dearest friend.
With each new round she pours,
my blood turns to nectar,
my heart to a holy shrine.
Now I see only Him!
Now I hear His voice alone:

Let my love fill your golden cup
like sunbeams showering the earth.
Let it flow to every corner of your soul.
Let it tear up the gnarled roots of regret
and nourish the tender seeds of hope.

When my heart saw the ocean of His love
it jumped in and yelled,
Find me if you can!

O, where can I look for my missing heart?
Where, but the face of Shams-e Tabriz?

He is the Sun
In whose track
Every heart must follow.

-- Version by Jonathan Star
"Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved"
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

The moon has come back out,
the other moon, that was never above us,
or seen in dreams, the moon that brings fire
and pours wine, the host that cooks us
to tenderness.

Our eyes look at the prepared sight
and say, Well done. Bravo!

Then we remember the ocean
and leap out of our personalities into that.
Try to find us!

The sun goes down,
with a line of clouds running to catch up.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"These Branching Moments"
Copper Beech Press, 1988

That moon, undreamt even by sky, returns
Bringing a fire no water can quench.

The temple of my body and my soul
Are made drunken and desolate by his love.

When the tavern-keeper became my soul-mate
My blood turned to wine, my heart to kebab.

When the eye is consumed by thought of him
A voice arrives: Well done, O Flagon. Brave, wine!

Loves fingers drag up, root and stem,
Every flower where Love's rays fall.

When my heart noticed Love's sea, suddenly
It escaped me and leapt in, crying, "Save me!"

Tabriz's glory, the face of the Wild One is
The Sun whose track all cloudy hearts follow.

-- Version by James Cowan
"Rumi's Divan of Shems of Tabriz, Selected Odes"
Element Books Limited 1997

That moon has returned, whose like the sky never saw even in
dreams; he has brought a fire which no water can extinguish.
Behold the body's tenement, and behold my soul -- Love's cup
has intoxicated the one and ruined the other.
When the master of the tavern became my heart's companion,
my blood turned to wine out of love, my heart to roast.
When the eye is filled with his image, a voice proclaims,
"Well done, goblet, and bravo, wine!"
My heart suddenly descried the ocean of Love; it leaped away
from me, saying, "Come, find me now!"
The sun of the countenance of Shams-i Din, Pride of Tabriz
-- in its track like clouds all hearts are running.

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"
The University of Chicago Press, 1968

The media:
http://tinyurl. com/3y6hhg

[indian_blues]

Love and reputation, brother,
are not in harmony:
don't stand at the door of reputation, if you are a lover.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

`Eshq o nâmus ay berâdar râst nist
bar dar-e nâmus ay `âsheq mah-'ist

-- Mathnawi VI: 612
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/3ayaaq

[Dokhtar Bandari]

Rumi

What is to be done, O Muslims? for I do not recognize myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Magian, nor Muslim.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature's mint, nor of the circling heaven.
I am not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire;
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust, nor of existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsin
I am not of the kingdom of 'Iraqian, nor of the country of Khorasan
I am not of the this world, nor of the next, nor of Paradise, nor of Hell
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rizwan.
My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless


I have a hard time posting this poem in Persian. I have to figure out how.

[indian_blues]

awesome DB... loved it.

i was dead

i came alive

i was tears

i became laughter



all because of love

when it arrived

my temporal life

from then on

changed to eternal



love said to me

you are not

crazy enough

you don't

fit this house



i went and

became crazy

crazy enough

to be in chains



love said

you are not

intoxicated enough

you don't

fit the group



i went and

got drunk

drunk enough

to overflow

with light-headedness



love said

you are still

too clever

filled with

imagination and skepticism



i went and

became gullible

and in fright

pulled away

from it all





love said

you are a candle

attracting everyone

gathering every one

around you



i am no more

a candle spreading light

i gather no more crowds

and like smoke

i am all scattered now



love said

you are a teacher

you are a head

and for everyone

you are a leader



i am no more

not a teacher

not a leader

just a servant

to your wishes



love said

you already have

your own wings

i will not give you

more feathers



and then my heart

pulled itself apart

and filled to the brim

with a new light

overflowed with fresh life



now when the heavens

are thankful that

because of love

i have become

the giver of light

I was dead, I became alive; I was weeping, I became laughing;

the power of love came, and I became everlasting power.

ديده سيرست مرا ، جان دليرست مرا زهره شيرست مرا ، زهره تابنده شدم

My eye is satiated, my soul is bold, I have the heart of a lion, I

have become shining Venus.

گفــت که : ديوانه نه ، لايق اين خانه نه رفتم و ديوانه شدم سلسله بندنده شدم

He said, "You are not mad, you are not appropriate to this

house"; I went and became mad, I became bound in shackles.

گفــت که : سرمست نه ، رو که از اين دست نه رفتم و سرمست شدم و ز طرب آکنده شدم

He said, "You are not intoxicated; go, for you belong not to

this party"; I went and became intoxicated, I became overflowing

with joy.

گفــت که : تو کشته نه ، در طرب آغشته نه پيش رخ زنده کنش کشته و افکنده شدم

He said, "You are not slain, you are not drenched in joy";

before his life-giving face I became slain and cast down.

گفــت که : تو زير ککی ، مست خيالی و شکی گول شدم ، هول شدم ، وز همه بر کنده شدم

He said, "You are a clever little man, drunk with fancy and

doubt"; I became a fool, I became straightened, I became

plucked up out of all.

گفــت که : تو شمع شدی ، قبله اين جمع شدی جمع نيم ، شمع نيم ، دود پراکنده شدم

He said, "You have become a candle, the qibla of this assem-

bly"; I am not of assembly, I am not candle, I have become

scattered smoke.

گفــت که : شيخی و سری ، پيش رو و راه بری شيخ نيم ، پيش نيم ، امر ترا بنده شدم

He said, "You are shaikh and headman, you are leader and

guide"; I am not shaikh, I am not leader, I have become slave

to your command.



گفــت که : با بال و پری ، من پر و بالت ندهم در هوس بال و پرش بی پر و پرکنده شدم



He said, "You have pinions and wings, I will not give you

wings and pinions"; in desire for his pinions and wings I became

wingless and impotent.

گفت مرا دولت نو ، راه مرو رنجه مشو زانک من از لطف و کرم سوی تو آينده شدم

New fortune said to me, "Go not on the way, do not become

pained, for out of grace and generosity I am now coming to you."

گفت مرا عشق کهن ، از بر ما نقل مکن گفتم آری نکنم ، ساکن و باشنده شدم

Old love said to me, "Do not move from my breast"; I said,

"Yes, I will not, I am at rest and remain."

چشمه خورشيد توئی ، سايه گه بيد منم چونک زدی بر سر من پست و گدازنده شدم

You are the fountain of the sun, I am the shadow of the

willow; when You strike my head, I become low and melting.

تابش جان يافت دلم ، وا شد و بشکافت دلم اطلس نو بافت دلم ، دشمن اين ژنده شدم

My heart felt the glow of the soul, my heart opened and split,

my heart wove a new satin, I became enemy of this ragged one.

صورت جان وقت سحر ، لاف همی زد ز بطر بنده و خربنده بدم ، شاه و خداونده شدم

The form of the soul at dawn swaggered insolently; I was a

slave and an ***-driver, I became king and lord.

شکر کند کاغذ تو از شکر بی حد تو کامد او در بر من ، با وی ماننده شدم

Your paper gives thanks for your limitless sugar, for it came

into my embrace, and I dwelt in it.

شکر کند خاک دژم ، از فلک و چرخ بخم کز نظر و گردش او نور پذيرنده شدم

My darkling earth gives thanks for my bent sky and sphere,

for through its gaze and circling I became light-receiving.

شکر کند چرخ فلک ، از ملک و ملک و ملک کز کرم و بخشش او روشن و بخشنده شدم

The sphere of heaven gives thanks for king and kingdom and

angel, for through his generosity and bounty I have become

bright and bountiful.

شکر کند عارف حق کز همه بر ديم سبق بر زبر هفت طبق ، اختر رخشنده شدم

The gnostic of God gives thanks that we have outraced all;

above the seven layers I have become a shining star.

زهره بدم ماه شدم چرخ دو صد تاه شدم يوسف بودم ز کنون يوسف زاينده شدم

I was Venus, I became the moon, I became the two hundred-

fold sky; I was Joseph, henceforth I have become the waxing

Joseph.

از توا م ای شهره قمر ، در من و در خود بنگر کز اثر خنده تو گلشن خندنده شدم

Famous moon, I am yours, look upon me and yourself, for

from the trace of your smile I have become a smiling rosegarden.

باش چو شطرنج روان خامش و خود جمله زبان کز رخ آن شاه جهان فرخ و فرخنده شدم

Move silently like a chessman, yourself all tongue, for through

the face of the king of the world I have become happy and

blissful.

[Dokhtar Bandari]

"Come, come again, whoever you are, come!
Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are."