This Torture

This Torture

Why should we tell you our love stories

 when you spill them together like blood in the dirt?

Love is a pearl lost on the ocean floor, 

or a fire we can’t see,

but how does saying that 

push us through the top of the head into

 the light above the head?

Love is not

 an iron pot, so this boiling energy

 won’t help.

Soul, heart, self. 

Beyond and within those

 is one saying,

How long before 

I’m free of this torture!

From The Book of Love

Translated by Coleman Barks

Eyes

Eyes

What is it that sees when vision is clear?

 The core that has no story, has that ever seen anything?

Surely vision has loyalties. 

Someone buying eye medicine does not see well, 

but well enough, at least, to choose the cure.

Beyond day and night one watches 

as your eyes close and open and close, as night

 turning day turns night, as eyes 

like particles float 

in the light that is your face, 

that is the sun.

Without you our eyes might be a danger

 to the soul, but with you they become the same

 as the soul. When that happens, 

the heart is seeing!

You can say that the eyes see God, but it is God

 who sees, as in the Qur’an when the desert mountain

 looks at God, and eyes appear on every stone.

From The Book of Love 

Translated by Coleman Barks

One Swaying Being

One Swaying Being

Love is not condescension, never 

that, nor books, nor any marking

on paper, nor what people say of 

each other. Love is a tree with

branches reaching into eternity

 and roots set deep in eternity,

and no trunk! Have you seen it? 

The mind cannot. Your desiring
cannot. The longing you feel for

 this love comes from inside you.

When you become the Friend, your
longing will be as the man in

the ocean who holds to a piece of 

wood. Eventually, wood, man, and

ocean become one swaying being, 

Shams Tabriz, the secret of God.

From The Book of Love

Translated by Coleman Barks

The Man of God

The Man of God

The man of God is drunken without wine,
The man of God is full without meat.
The man of God is distraught and bewildered,
The man of God has no food or sleep.
The man of God is a king beneath a dervish-cloak,
The man of God is a treasure in a ruin.
The man of God is not of air and earth,
The man of God is not of fire and water.
The man of God is a boundless sea,
The man of God rains pearls without a cloud.
The man of God has hundred moons and skies,
The man of God has hundred suns.
The man of God is made wise by the Truth,
The man of God is not learned from book.
The man of God is beyond infidelity and religion,
To the man of God, right and wrong are alike.
The man of God has ridden away from Not-being,
The man of God is gloriously attended.
The man of God is concealed, Shamsi Din;
The man of God do you seek and find!

Translated by 

Coleman Barks

Who Are You

Who Are You

Who are you? The inner vision of consciousness? 

The heart? A sacred half-light, are you that?

Do you grow gatherings? Are you a friend 

of the sun, who comes and goes so quickly?

Do not forget your vertical passage,

 the night of power,

and don’t hide from the one 

for whom all our secrets are down in the pillow under 

his head, doctor of lovers, soul for

 this thick world,

the one who spirals iron

 like dough and makes the body lightedness.

No belief is necessary to enter this tent

 where one love story changes to another.

I remember that with these words brought here

 by a falcon from the wrist of Shams.

From The Book of Love

Translated by Coleman Barks

Who Is In The House of My Heart

Who Is In The House of My Heart

Who is in the house of my heart,
 I cried in the middle of the night.
 Love [God] said,
 "It is I, but what are all these images that fill your
 house?"
 I said, they are the reflection of Your beautiful Face.
 Love asked,
 "But what is this image full of pain?"
 I said, it is me lost in the sorrows of life
 and showed Love my soul full of wounds.
 Love offered me one end of a thread and said:
 "Take it so I can pull you back,
 but do not break the delicate string."
 I reached towards it but Love struck my hand.
 I asked, why the harshness?
 Love said,
 "To remind you that whoever comes to Love's holy space
 proud and full of himself,
 will be sent away.
 Look at Love with the eyes of your heart."

Translated by 

Coleman Barks

He Is The First And The Last

He Is The First And The Last

He is the first, He is the last, He is the outward, He is the inward;
I know none other except "Ya Hu" [Yahweh]
 and "Ya man Hu" ["O He who is"].
I am intoxicated with Love's cup,
 the two worlds have passed out of my ken;
I have no business save carouse and revelry.
If once in my life I spent a moment without you,
From that time and from that hour I repent of my life.
If once in this world I win a moment with you,
I will trample on both worlds, I will dance in triumph for ever.
O Shamsi Tabriz, I am so drunken in this world,
That except of drunkenness and revelry I have no tale to tell.

Translated by 

Coleman Barks

How Should The Soul

How Should The Soul 

How should the soul not take wings
when from the Glory of God
It hears a sweet, kindly call:
"Why are you here, soul? Arise!"
How should a fish not leap fast
into the sea form dry land
When from the ocean so cool
the sound of the waves reaches its
How should the falcon not fly
back to his king from the hunt
When from the falconer's drum
it hears to call: "Oh, come back"?
Why should not every Sufi
begin to dance atom-like
Around the Sun of duration
that saves from impermanence?
What graciousness and what beauty?
What life-bestowing! What grace!
If anyone does without that, woe-
what err, what suffering!
Oh fly , of fly, O my soul-bird,
fly to your primordial home!
You have escaped from the cage now-
your wings are spread in the air.
Oh travel from brackish water
now to the fountain of life!
Return from the place of the sandals
now to the high seat of souls!
Go on! Go on! we are going,
and we are coming, O soul,
From this world of separation
to union, a world beyond worlds!
How long shall we here in the dust-world
like children fill our skirts
With earth and with stones without value,
with broken shards without worth?
Let's take our hand from the dust grove,
let's fly to the heavens' high,
Let's fly from our childish behaviour
and join the banquet of men!
Call out, O soul, to proclaim now
that you are rules and king!
You have the grace of the answer,
you know the question as well!

From Look! This Is Love

Translated by Annemarie Schimmel

You Must Not Be Afraid of Death

You Must Not Be Afraid of Death

You mustn't be afraid of death
you're a deathless soul
you can't be kept in a dark grave
you're filled with God's glow
be happy with your beloved
you can't find any better
the world will shimmer
because of the diamond you hold
when your heart is immersed
in this blissful love
you can easily endure
any bitter face around
in the absence of malice
there is nothing but
happiness and good times
don't dwell in sorrow my friend.

From Rumi, Fountain of Fire

Translated by Nader Khalili

The Source of Joy

The Source of Joy 

No one knows what makes the soul wake up

 so happy! Maybe a dawn breeze 

has blown the veil from the face of God.

A thousand new moons appear. 

Roses open laughing. 

Hearts become perfect rubies

 like those from Badakshan.

The body turns entirely spirit.

 Leaves become branches in this wind.

Why is it now so easy to surrender, 

even for those already surrendered?

There’s no answer to any of this. 

No one knows the source of joy.

A poet breathes into a reed flute, 

and the tip of every hair makes music.

Shams sails down clods of dirt from the roof, 

and we take jobs as doorkeepers for him. 

From The Book of Love 

Translated by Coleman Barks

You Wreck My Shop

You Wreck My Shop

You wreck my shop and my house and now my heart,

 but how can I run from what gives me life?

I’m weary of personal worrying, in love 

with the art of madness! Tear open my shame

and show the mystery. How much longer 

do I have to fret with self-restraint and fear?

Friends, this is how it is: we are fringe

 sewn inside the lining of a robe. Soon

we’ll be loosened, the binding threads torn out. 

The beloved is a lion. 

We’re the lame deer in his paws. 

Consider what choices we have!

From The Book of Love

Translated by Coleman Barks

Our Death Is Our Wedding With Eternity

Our Death Is Our Wedding With Eternity

Our death is our wedding with eternity.

What is the secret? "God is One."

The sunlight splits when entering the windows of the house.

This multiplicity exists in the cluster of grapes;

It is not in the juice made from the grapes.

For he who is living in the Light of God,

The death of the carnal soul is a blessing.

Regarding him, say neither bad nor good,

For he is gone beyond the good and the bad.

Fix your eyes on God and do not talk about what is invisible,

So that he may place another look in your eyes.

It is in the vision of the physical eyes

That no invisible or secret thing exists.

But when the eye is turned toward the Light of God

What thing could remain hidden under such a Light?

Although all lights emanate from the Divine Light

Don't call all these lights "the Light of God";

It is the eternal light which is the Light of God,

The ephemeral light is an attribute of the body and the flesh.

...Oh God who gives the grace of vision!

The bird of vision is flying towards You with the wings of desire.

From http://www.khamush.com/poems.html#9

The True Sufi

The True Sufi

What makes the Sufi? Purity of heart;
Not the patched mantle and the lust perverse
Of those vile earth-bound men who steal his name.
He in all dregs discerns the essence pure:
In hardship ease, in tribulation joy.
The phantom sentries, who with batons drawn
Guard Beauty's place-gate and curtained bower,
Give way before him, unafraid he passes,
And showing the King's arrow, enters in.

From Persian Poems

Edited by A.J.Arberry

A New Rule

A New Rule

It is the rule with drunkards to fall upon each other,
to quarrel, become violent, and make a scene.
The lover is even worse than a drunkard.
I will tell you what love is: to enter a mine of gold.
And what is that gold?

The lover is a king above all kings,
unafraid of death, not at all interested in a golden crown.
The dervish has a pearl concealed under his patched cloak.
Why should he go begging door to door?
Last night that moon came along,
drunk, dropping clothes in the street.
"Get up," I told my heart, "Give the soul a glass of wine.
The moment has come to join the nightingale in the garden,
to taste sugar with the soul-parrot."


I have fallen, with my heart shattered -
where else but on your path? And I
broke your bowl, drunk, my idol, so drunk,
don't let me be harmed, take my hand.
A new rule, a new law has been born:
break all the glasses and fall toward the glassblower.

From Love Is A Stranger

by Kabir Helminski

The Awakening

The Awakening 

In the early dawn of happiness
you gave me three kisses
so that I would wake up
to this moment of love

I tried to remember in my heart
what I’d dreamt about
during the night
before I became aware
of this moving
of life

I found my dreams
but the moon took me away
It lifted me up to the firmament
and suspended me there
I saw how my heart had fallen
on your path
singing a song

Between my love and my heart
things were happening which
slowly slowly
made me recall everything

You amuse me with your touch
although I can’t see your hands.
You have kissed me with tenderness
although I haven’t seen your lips
You are hidden from me.

But it is you who keeps me alive

Perhaps the time will come
when you will tire of kisses
I shall be happy
even for insults from you
I only ask that you
keep some attention on me.

From The Love Poems of Rumi

by Deepak Chopra (Editor)

Stay Close, My Heart

Stay Close, My Heart

Stay close, my heart, to the one who knows your ways;
Come into the shade of the tree that allays has fresh flowers.
Don't stroll idly through the bazaar of the perfume-markers:
Stay in the shop of the sugar-seller.
If you don't find true balance, anyone can deceive you;
Anyone can trick out of a thing of straw,
And make you take it for gold
Don't squat with a bowl before every boiling pot;
In each pot on the fire you find very different things.
Not all sugarcanes have sugar, not all abysses a peak;
Not all eyes possess vision, not every sea is full of pearls.
O nightingale, with your voice of dark honey! Go on lamenting!
Only your drunken ecstasy can pierce the rock's hard heart!
Surrender yourself, and if you cannot be welcomes by the Friend,
Know that you are rebelling inwardly like a thread
That doesn't want to go through the needle's eye!
The awakened heart is a lamp; protect it by the him of your robe!
Hurry and get out of this wind, for the weather is bad.
And when you've left this storm, you will come to a fountain;
You'll find a Friend there who will always nourish your soul.
And with your soul always green, you'll grow into a tall tree
Flowering always with sweet light-fruit, whose growth is interior.

Translated by

Andrew Harvey

On Resurrection Day

On Resurrection Day 

On Resurrection Day
God will say,
"What did you do
with the strength and the energy
that your food gave you
on Earth?
How did you use your eyes?
What did you make with your five senses
while they were dimming and playing out?
I gave you hands and feet as tools
for preparing the ground for planting.
Did you, in the health I gave,
do the plowing?"
You will not be able to stand
when you hear those questions.
You will bend double with shame,
and finally acknowledge the glory.

Then you will turn to the right looking to the prophets
for help, as though to say,
I am stuck in the mud of my life.
Help me out of this!

And they will answer,
those kings,
"The time for helping is past.
The plow stands there in the field.
You should have used it."
Then you will turn to the left,
where your family is,
and they will say,
"Don't look at us!
This conversation is between you
and your creator!"

From One-Handed Basket Weaving 

Translated by Coleman Barks

If A Blow Comes To You From Heaven

If A Blow Comes To You From Heaven

If a blow comes to you from Heaven,
be alert to a gift of honor after it;
for He is not the King to slap you
without giving you a crown
and a throne on which to rest.
The whole world is worth only a gnat's wing,
but a single slap may bring an infinite reward.
Slip your neck nimbly out of this golden collar
that is the world, and take the slaps that come from God.
The prophets suffered those blows on the neck,
and from that affliction they lifted their heads high.
But always be present, attentive, and ready in yourself,
youthful one, in order that He may find you at home.
Otherwise He will take back His gift of honor,
saying "I found no one there."

From Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance: A Daybook of Spiritual Guidance 

Translated by Camille Helmiski /  Kabir Helminski

Shall I Tell You Our Secret

Shall I Tell You Our Secret

Shall I tell you our secret?
We are charming thieves who steal hearts
and never fail because we are
the friends of the One.
The time for old preaching is over
we aim straight at the heart.
If the mind tries to sneak in and take over
we will string it up without delay.
We turn poison into medicine
and our sorrows into blessings.
All that was familiar,
our loved ones and ourselves,
we had to leave behind.

Blessed is the poem that comes through me
but not of me because the sound of my own music
will drown the song of Love.

From Rumi: Hidden Music

Translated by Melita Kolin / Maryam Mafi

A Man Was Crying

A Man Was Crying

One night a man was crying Allah! Allah! 

His lips grew sweet with praising,

 until a cynic said, “So! 

I have heard you calling out, but have you ever

 gotten any response?”

The man had no answer to that.

 He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.

He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,

 in a thick, green foliage.

“Why did you stop praising?” “Because 

I’ve never heard anything back.”

“This longing you express

 is the return message.”

The grief you cry out from

 draws you toward union.

Your pure sadness 

that wants help

 is the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master. 

That whining is the connection.

There are love dogs 

no one knows the names of.

Give your life

 to be one of them.

From The Book of Love

Translated by Coleman Barks