While Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was quite specifically a Persian poet, an Islamic dervish and a Sufi mystic, he has been claimed by a wide variety of groups: humanists, pop psychologists, rock stars and secular scientists. One will find in his poetry echoes of the human struggle and search for self, transcendence and mystical love. In point of fact, his discipline and wisdom have crossed all national and ethnic borders ever since the 13th century.
The dates for Rumi are 1207-1273, being born into a family of scholars and jurists. His name actually comes from Persian for “The Roman” as he was born in Konya, in present-day Turkey, which was previously a part of the Roman Empire. The taught and preached, following in his father’s footsteps in the local school as well as the mosques around Konya.
It was the influence of a Sufi by the name of Shams-eTabrizi in the years 1244-1248 that changed everything for Rumi. This created an intense discovery of God as Love, which was to be celebrated in all of life, including discipline, song, dance and sexuality. Shams was a dervish; part of the Moslem sect which worships through song and dance, hence the ‘whirling dervish’ of popularity. Rumi embraced this way of worship and became one of the great Islamic poets and mystics. The singers and dancers in this sect is an attempt to ‘remember’ the songs and dances that eternally done in heaven. Here is a selection from one of his poems:
The song of the spheres in their revolutions
Is what men sing with lute and voice.
As we all are members of Adam,
We have heard these melodies in Paradise.
Though earth and water have cast their veil upon us,
We retain faint reminiscences of these heavenly songs;
But while we are thus shrouded by gross earthly veils,
How can the tones of the dancing spheres reach us?
His poetry is now read worldwide, and his teachings and quotes not only are pithy and accessible, but can be life-changing as well. Coleman Barks is one of the best of the translators and editors of his works. I will share a few poems and intersperse them with a few of his quotes.
The dates for Rumi are 1207-1273, being born into a family of scholars and jurists. His name actually comes from Persian for “The Roman” as he was born in Konya, in present-day Turkey, which was previously a part of the Roman Empire. The taught and preached, following in his father’s footsteps in the local school as well as the mosques around Konya.
It was the influence of a Sufi by the name of Shams-eTabrizi in the years 1244-1248 that changed everything for Rumi. This created an intense discovery of God as Love, which was to be celebrated in all of life, including discipline, song, dance and sexuality. Shams was a dervish; part of the Moslem sect which worships through song and dance, hence the ‘whirling dervish’ of popularity. Rumi embraced this way of worship and became one of the great Islamic poets and mystics. The singers and dancers in this sect is an attempt to ‘remember’ the songs and dances that eternally done in heaven. Here is a selection from one of his poems:
The song of the spheres in their revolutions
Is what men sing with lute and voice.
As we all are members of Adam,
We have heard these melodies in Paradise.
Though earth and water have cast their veil upon us,
We retain faint reminiscences of these heavenly songs;
But while we are thus shrouded by gross earthly veils,
How can the tones of the dancing spheres reach us?
His poetry is now read worldwide, and his teachings and quotes not only are pithy and accessible, but can be life-changing as well. Coleman Barks is one of the best of the translators and editors of his works. I will share a few poems and intersperse them with a few of his quotes.
BURNT KABOB
Last year, I admired wines. This,
I’m wandering inside the red world.
Last year, I gazed at the fire.
This year I’m burnt kabob.
Thirst drove me down to the water
where I drank the moon’s reflection.
Now I am a lion staring up totally
lost in love with the thing itself.
Don’t ask questions about longing.
Look in my face.
Soul drunk, body ruined, these two
sit helpless in a wrecked wagon.
Neither knows how to fix it.
And my heart, I’d say it was more
like a donkey sunk in a mudhole,
struggling and miring deeper.
But listen to me: for one moment,
quit being sad. Hear blessings
dropping their blossoms
around you. God.
****
“You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?”
****
BE MELTING SNOW
Totally conscious, and apropos of nothing, you come to see me.
Is someone here? I ask.
The moon. The full moon is inside your house.
My friends and I go running out into the street.
I’m in here, comes a voice from the house, but we aren’t listening.
We’re looking up at the sky.
My pet nightingale sobs like a drunk in the garden.
Ringdoves scatter with small cries, Where, Where.
It’s midnight. The whole neighborhood is up and out
in the street thinking, The cat burglar has come back.
The actual thief is there too, saying out loud,
Yes, the cat burglar is somewhere in this crowd.
No one pays attention.
Lo, I am with you always means when you look for God,
God is in the look of your eyes,
in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,
or things that have happened to you
There’s no need to go outside.
Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.
A white flower grows in the quietness.
Let your tongue become that flower.
****
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
****
MY WORST HABIT
My worst habit is I get so tired of winter
I become a torture to those I’m with.
If you’re not here, nothing grows.
I lack clarity. My words
tangle and knot up.
How to cure bad water? Send it back to the river.
How to cure bad habits? Send me back to you.
When water gets caught in habitual whirlpools,
dig a way out through the bottom
to the ocean. There is a secret medicine
given only to those who hurt so hard
they can’t hope.
The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.
Look as long as you can at the friend you love,
no matter whether that friend is moving away from you
or coming back toward you.
Don’t let your throat tighten
with fear. Take sips of breath
all day and night, before death
closes your mouth.
****
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
****
TENDING TWO SHOPS
Don’t run around this world
looking for a hole to hide in.
There are wild beasts in every cave!
If you live with mice,
the cat claws will find you.
The only real rest comes
when you’re alone with God.
Live in the nowhere that you came from,
even though you have an address here.
That’s why you see things in two ways.
Sometimes you look at a person
and see a cynical snake.
Someone else sees a joyful lover,
and you’re both right!
Everyone is half and half,
like the black and white ox.
Joseph looked ugly to his brothers,
and most handsome to his father.
That’s why you see things in two ways.
Sometimes you look at a person
and see a cynical snake.
Someone else sees a joyful lover,
and you’re both right!
Everyone is half and half,
like the black and white ox.
Joseph looked ugly to his brothers,
and most handsome to his father.
You have eyes that see from that nowhere,
and eyes that judge distances,
how high and how low.
You own two shops,
and you run back and forth.
Try to close the one that’s a fearful trap,
getting always smaller. Checkmate,
this way. Checkmate that.
Keep open the shop
where you’re not selling fishhooks anymore.
You are the free-swimming fish.
Think that you’re gliding out from the face of a cliff
like an eagle. Think you’re walking
like a tiger walks by himself in the forest.
You’re most handsome when you’re after food.
Spend less time with nightingales and peacocks.
One is just a voice, the other just a color.
****
“You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
****
WHO MAKES THESE CHANGES?
Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right.
It lands left.
I ride after a deer and find myself
chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
and end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
and fall in.
I should be suspicious
of what I want.
****
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion. Bewilderment brings intuitive knowledge.”
****
Last year, I admired wines. This,
I’m wandering inside the red world.
Last year, I gazed at the fire.
This year I’m burnt kabob.
Thirst drove me down to the water
where I drank the moon’s reflection.
Now I am a lion staring up totally
lost in love with the thing itself.
Don’t ask questions about longing.
Look in my face.
Soul drunk, body ruined, these two
sit helpless in a wrecked wagon.
Neither knows how to fix it.
And my heart, I’d say it was more
like a donkey sunk in a mudhole,
struggling and miring deeper.
But listen to me: for one moment,
quit being sad. Hear blessings
dropping their blossoms
around you. God.
****
“You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?”
****
BE MELTING SNOW
Totally conscious, and apropos of nothing, you come to see me.
Is someone here? I ask.
The moon. The full moon is inside your house.
My friends and I go running out into the street.
I’m in here, comes a voice from the house, but we aren’t listening.
We’re looking up at the sky.
My pet nightingale sobs like a drunk in the garden.
Ringdoves scatter with small cries, Where, Where.
It’s midnight. The whole neighborhood is up and out
in the street thinking, The cat burglar has come back.
The actual thief is there too, saying out loud,
Yes, the cat burglar is somewhere in this crowd.
No one pays attention.
Lo, I am with you always means when you look for God,
God is in the look of your eyes,
in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,
or things that have happened to you
There’s no need to go outside.
Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.
A white flower grows in the quietness.
Let your tongue become that flower.
****
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
****
MY WORST HABIT
My worst habit is I get so tired of winter
I become a torture to those I’m with.
If you’re not here, nothing grows.
I lack clarity. My words
tangle and knot up.
How to cure bad water? Send it back to the river.
How to cure bad habits? Send me back to you.
When water gets caught in habitual whirlpools,
dig a way out through the bottom
to the ocean. There is a secret medicine
given only to those who hurt so hard
they can’t hope.
The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.
Look as long as you can at the friend you love,
no matter whether that friend is moving away from you
or coming back toward you.
Don’t let your throat tighten
with fear. Take sips of breath
all day and night, before death
closes your mouth.
****
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
****
TENDING TWO SHOPS
Don’t run around this world
looking for a hole to hide in.
There are wild beasts in every cave!
If you live with mice,
the cat claws will find you.
The only real rest comes
when you’re alone with God.
Live in the nowhere that you came from,
even though you have an address here.
That’s why you see things in two ways.
Sometimes you look at a person
and see a cynical snake.
Someone else sees a joyful lover,
and you’re both right!
Everyone is half and half,
like the black and white ox.
Joseph looked ugly to his brothers,
and most handsome to his father.
That’s why you see things in two ways.
Sometimes you look at a person
and see a cynical snake.
Someone else sees a joyful lover,
and you’re both right!
Everyone is half and half,
like the black and white ox.
Joseph looked ugly to his brothers,
and most handsome to his father.
You have eyes that see from that nowhere,
and eyes that judge distances,
how high and how low.
You own two shops,
and you run back and forth.
Try to close the one that’s a fearful trap,
getting always smaller. Checkmate,
this way. Checkmate that.
Keep open the shop
where you’re not selling fishhooks anymore.
You are the free-swimming fish.
Think that you’re gliding out from the face of a cliff
like an eagle. Think you’re walking
like a tiger walks by himself in the forest.
You’re most handsome when you’re after food.
Spend less time with nightingales and peacocks.
One is just a voice, the other just a color.
****
“You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
****
WHO MAKES THESE CHANGES?
Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right.
It lands left.
I ride after a deer and find myself
chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
and end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
and fall in.
I should be suspicious
of what I want.
****
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion. Bewilderment brings intuitive knowledge.”
****