Jalal al-Din Rumi
translated by Arberry
18.
Go forth, my comrades,
draw along our beloved, at last bring to me the fugitive idol; with sweet
melodies and golden pretexts draw to the house that moon sweet of
presence. And if he promises, "I will come in another moment,"
all his promises are but cunning to beguile you. He possesses a flaming
breath, by enchantment and wizardry knotting the water and tying up the
air. When in blessedness and joy my darling enters, sit you down and
behold the marvels of God! When his beauty shines forth, what shall be
the beauty of the comely ones? For his sun-bright face extinguishes all
lamps. Go, fleet-paced heart, to
26.
If
you are Love's lover and in quest of Love, take a sharp dagger and cut the
throat of bashfulness.
Know that reputation is a great barrier in the
path; what I say is disinterested accept it with a tranquil mind.
Why did that madman
work a thousand kinds of madness, that chosen wild one invent
a thousand wiles?
Now he rent his robe,
now he ran over the mountains, now he quaffed poison, now he elected
annihilation
..
Love's path has proved
all drunkenness and abasement, for the torrent flows downwards; how should it
run upwards?
You will be as a bezel
in the lovers' ring, if you are the ear-ring slave of the king, my master;
..
My son, it behoves not to beat the drum under a blanket; plant your
flag like a brave warrior in the midst of the plain.
With your spirit's ear
listen to the thousand tumults echoing in the green dome's air from the clamor
of the passionate ones!
When the cords of your
robe are loosened by Love's intoxication, behold then the angel's rapture, the houri's amazement!
36.
You who possess not
Love, it is lawful to you sleep on; be gone, for Love and Love's sorrow is
our portion sleep on.
We have become motes of
the sun of sorrow for the Beloved; you in whose heart this passion has never
arisen, sleep on.
In endless quest of
union with him we hurry like a river; you who are not anguished by the question
"Where is he?" sleep on.
Love's path is outside
the two and seventy sects; since your love and way is mere trickery and
hypocrisy, sleep on.
His dawn-cup is out
sunrise, his crepuscule our supper; you whose yearning is for viands and whose
passion is for supper, sleep on.
In quest of the
philosopher's stone we are melting like copper; you whose philosopher's stone
is the bolster and the bedmate, sleep on.
Like a drunkard you are
falling and rising on every side, for night is past and now is the time for
prayer; sleep on.
Since fate has barred
slumber to me, young man, be gone; for sleep has passed you by and you can now
fulfill slumber; sleep on.
We have fallen into
Love's hand what will Love do? Since you are in your own hand, depart
to the right hand sleep on.
I am the one who drinks
blood; my soul, you are the one who eats viands; since viands for a certainty
demand slumber, sleep on.
I have abandoned hope for
my brain and by head too; you aspire to a fresh and juicy brain sleep on.
I have rent the garment
of speech and let words go; you, who are not naked, possess a robe sleep on.
39
Come,
come, for the rosebower has blossomed; come, come,
for the beloved has arrived.
Bring at
once altogether soul and world; deliver over to the sun, for the sun has drawn
a fine blade.
Laugh at
that ugly one showing off airs; weep for that friend who is severed from the
Friend.
The
whole city seethed when the rumor ran abroad that the madman had once again
escaped from his chains.
What day
is it, what day is it - such a day of Uprising!
Perchance the scroll of man's deeds has already fluttered from the
skies.
Beat the
drums, and speak no more; what place is there for heart and mind? For the soul
too has fled.
43
So long as
the form of the Beloved's image is with us, for us the whole of life is a
joyful parade.
Where friends unite together, there in the
midst of the house, by our God, is a spreading plain;
And where the heart's desire comes true,
there one thorn is better than a thousand dates.
When we are sleeping at the head of the
Beloved's lane, our pillow and blankets are the Pleiades;
When we are twisted into the tip of the
Beloved's tress on the Night of Power, power belongs to us.
When the reflection of His beauty shines
forth, mountainland and earth are silk and brocade.
When we ask of the breeze the scent of Him,
in the breeze is the echo of lute and reedpipe.
When we write His name in the dust, every
particle of dust is a dark-eyed houri.
We chant a spell of Him over the fire;
thereby the raging fire becomes water-cool.
Why shall I tell a long tale? For when we mention His name to nonbeing too,
it increases being.
That subtlety in which Love is contained is
fuller of pith than a thousand walnuts.
That instant when Love showed his face, all
these things vanished from the midst.
Silence! For the sealing has been completed;
the totality of desire is God Most High.
119
Love took away sleep from me and love takes
away sleep, for love purchases not the soul and mind for so much as half a
barleycorn.
Love is
a black lion, thirsty and blood-drinking, it pastures
only on the blood of lovers.
It
clings to you in affection, and drags you to the snare; when you have fallen
in, then it looks on from afar.
Love is
a tyrannous prince, an unscrupulous police officer, it
tortures and strangles the innocent.
Whoso
falls into Love's hands weeps like a cloud; whoso dwells afar from Love freezes
like snow.
Every
instant Love shatters a thousand bowls into fragments,
every moment stitches and rends a thousand garments.
Love
causes a thousand eyes to weep, and goes on laughing; Love slays miserably a
thousand souls, and counts them as one.
Though
the Simurgh flies happily in
No man
escapes from Love's cords by deceit or madness, no reasoning man escapes from
its snare by intelligence.
My words
are disordered because of Love, else I would have
shown you the ways Love travels;
I would
have shown you how Love seizes the lion, I would have
shown you how Love hunts the prey.