Monday, December 1, 2008

Tell me, is sugar sweeter
Or He who makes sugar cane?
Beauty of the moon is better
Or He who makes it wax and wane?

Leave all the moons behind
Put sugar out of your mind
In Him another you’ll find
He makes another kind of grain.

O mind you may be wise
In knowledge and insight may rise
Or is it better to prize
He who makes the mind insane?

Body, soul, mind and heart
With power will make a start
Yet in a drop, with art
A hundred eyes will entertain.

O love, O tumultuous love
O restless bleeding dove
This fire from above
Makes love in your heart reign.

With His love I am raw
I am confused and in awe
Sometimes my flames withdraw
Sometimes consumed and slain.

The ocean of loving grace
Traces the lover’s face
A drop of thought will replace
A thousand pearls will remain.

O Shams-e Tabriz, my pain
A hundred ways my heart would drain
Sometimes a blade, cuts my vein
Sometimes the shield I urge in vain.

Posted by ashegh in 08:18:44 | Permalink | No Comments »

Each breath is a song of love
From left and right, pass us by
We’ll return to the world above
Such fate no-one can defy.

We have come from the skies
Befriended angels in heaven
To the same place we will rise
To that city past skies seven.

We are above the skies
And angels we transcend
Why should we compromise?
The House of Songs is our end.

With good fortune may we live
Fate is contradictory,
Gladly our lives may we give
Worldly pride victory.

The sweet scent of this breeze
Is from the curl of that hair
Radiant fantasy on its knees
Upon that face gladly stare.

People are like the loons
Are born from the sea of soul
Stay afloat many moons
The sea the loon control.

On that sea came the wave
While the ship was taking form
From shipwreck no-one could save
Returned to sea by that storm.

What seemed bad, was grace
Kindness was in the wave’s wrath
Dawn of fulfillment is in place
Lighting up that divine path.

From Tabriz began to shine
The Light of Truth, to me call
Thy light is Light Divine
Distinct, yet connecting all.

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I need a lover and a friend
All friendships you transcend
And impotent I remain

You are Noah and the Ark
You are the light and the dark
Behind the veil I remain

You are passion and are rage
You are the bird and the cage
Lost in flight I remain

You are the wine and the cup You are the ocean and the drop
While afloat I remain

I said, “O Soul of the world
My desperation has taken hold!”
“I am thy essence,” without scold,
“Value me much more than gold.”

You are the bait and the trap
You are the path and the map
While in search I remain

You are poison and the sweet
You are defeated and defeat
Sword in hand I remain

You are the wood and the saw
You are cooked, and are raw
While in a pot I remain

You are sunshine and the fog
You are water and the jug
While thirsty I remain

Sweet fragrance of Shams is
The joy and pride of Tabriz
Perfume trader I remain.

Posted by ashegh in 04:48:18 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Beloved reached desired glow
And so we say, may it be so
All doubts towards faith did grow
And so we say, may it be so

The devil’s plot caused perturbation
And the nation faced agitation;
Once again was Solomon’s nation
And so we say, may it be so

Beloved who put my heart in pain
Closed doors on my face once again
Friends would console and entertain
And so we say, may it be so

You drank wine on your own
Lusted after all, alone
Now lead the drunk upon a throne
And so we say, may it be so

From your majestic bright face
The flame lighting my place
Each corner, a well-lit space
And so we say, may it be so

From your fake anger and rage
And the sweet turning of the page
The world is a sugary stage
And so we say, may it be so

Night replaced by the morrow
Joy has conquered every sorrow
Sun light, pervasive and thorough
And so we say, may it be so

From mendicant generosity
And lovers’ pertinacity
Revival and vivacity
And so we say, may it be so

Celebrate this festivity
Restored to compatibility
Festivals abound in our city
And so we say, may it be so

O masterful wise minstrel
In the underworld do not dwell
Finally Venus in Libra fell
And so we say, may it be so

The mendicant reached kingly might
In wealth attained unimagined height
Partaking of courtly delight
And so we say, may it be so

Consider the wind in the air
Sweet lips’ bewitching flair
Wailing windpipe will not spare
And so we say, may it be so

The Pharaoh with much hardship
Misfortunes his life grip
Of suffering, Moses strip
And so we say, may it be so

Evil looking and ugly wolf
Drowned in ignorance’s deep gulf
By Joseph’s goodness now dwarf
And so we say, may it be so

O Shams-e Tabrizi, you
Compassionately blend and renew
East and west through and through
And so we say, may it be so

From submission to Satan’s will
Your prophetic soul emerged through this mill
Satan himself, God’s will fulfill
And so we say, may it be so

When the moon was shining its light
Both worlds were garden of delight
All souls for home then took flight
And so we say, may it be so

The ignorant and the blind
With insight are now wise and kind
Surpass Jesus, put him behind
And so we say, may it be so

It was all for souls to grow
May it always have been so
Thy splendor brightly aglow
And so we say, may it be so

All thy wrath was thy mercy
Thy poison, sweet clemency
Like dark clouds’ sweet potency
And so we say, may it be so

In his temple, colors remain
Pulling by the horns will not disdain
When this bull’s blood floors stain
And so we say, may it be so

Silence! I am drunk, you know
My hands are tied in this earthly show
My disheveled mind moves to and fro
And so we say, may it be so

Posted by ashegh in 04:43:59 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Masnavi Maanavi. Molana Jalaleddin Balkhi Rumi. 1902 A.D. - Click Image to Close

 Poem in Farsi
O lovers, O lovers, it is time to abandon the world;
The drum of departure reaches my spiritual ear from heaven. 

Behold, the driver has risen and made ready the files of camels,
And begged us to acquit him of blame: why, O travelers, are you asleep?

These sounds before and behind are the noise of departure and of the camel-bells;
With each moment a soul and a spirit is setting off into the Void. 

From these stars like inverted candles, from these blue awnings of the sky
There has come forth a wondrous people, that the mysteries may be revealed.

A heavy slumber fell upon thee from the circling spheres:
Alas for this life so light, beware of this slumber so heavy!

O soul, seek the Beloved, O friend, seek the Friend,
O watchman, be wakeful: it behooves not a watchman to sleep.

On every side is clamor and tumult, in every street are candles and torches,
For to-night the teeming world gives birth to the world everlasting. 

T’hou wert dust and art spirit, thou wert ignorant and art wise;
He who has led thee thus far will lead thee further also.

How pleasant are the pains he makes thee suffer while he gently draws thee to himself!
His flames are as water: do not frown upon him.

To dwell in the soul is his task, to break vows of penitence is his task;
By his manifold artifice these atoms are trembling at their core.

O ridiculous puppet that leapest out of thy hole, as if to say, ‘I am the lord of the land,’
How long wilt thou leap?  Abase thyself, or they will bend thee, like a bow.

Thou didst sow the seed of deceit, thou didst indulge in derision, 
Thou didst regard God as nothing: see now, O “screant! 

O ass, thou wert best with straw; thou art a caldron: thou wert best black;
Thou wert best at the bottom of a well, O disgrace of thy house and family!

In me there is Another by whom these eyes sparkle;
 If water scalds, ’tis by fire; understand this.

I have no stone in my hand, I have no quarrel with any one, 
I deal harshly with none, because I am sweet as a garden of roses. 

Mine eye, then, is from that source and from another universe; 
Here a world and there a world: I am seated on the threshold. 

On the threshold are they alone whose eloquence is mute; 
‘Tis enough to utter this intimation: say no more, draw back thy tongue.

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