Like This - Rumi:
If someone asks,
“What does perfect beauty look like?”
Show him your own face and say,
Like this.
If someone asks,
“What does an angel’s wing look like?” - smile.
If he asks about divine fragrance
Pull him close, his face in your hair,
Like this.
If someone asks,
“How did Jesus bring the dead back to life?” -
Don’t say a word -
just kiss him softly on the cheek,
Like this.
If someone asks,
“How does it feel to be slain by love?”
Close your eyes and tear open your shirt,
Like this.
If someone asks about my stature,
Stare into space with your eyes wide open,
Like this.
The soul enters one body, then another.
If someone argues about this
Enter my house and wave him good-bye,
Like this.
Whenever a lover cries out
He is telling our story
And God bends down to listen,
Like this.
I am the storehouse of all pleasure,
I am the pain of self-denial.
To see me, lower your eyes to the ground
Then raise them up to heaven,
Like this.
Only the gentle breeze
Knows the secret of union.
Listen as it whispers a song to every heart,
Like this.
If someone asks,
How does a servant attain the glory of God?
Become the shining candle
That every eye can see,
Like this.
I asked about Joseph’s perfume
Which rode the wind from city to city -
It was your scent
Blowing in from God’s perfect world,
Like this.
I asked how Joseph’s perfume
Gave sight to the blind -
It was your breeze
Clearing the darkness from my eyes,
Like this.
Perhaps Shams will be generous
And fill our hearts with love.
Perhaps he will raise one eyebrow
And cast us a glance,
Like this.
Untitled by Rumi:
We’re not ahead, we’re behind.
We’re not above, we’re below….
Like a brush in a painter’s hand,
we have no idea where we are.
Untitled by Rumi:
The seeds of His love blossom in every heart.
The sounds of His flute fill every celebration.
Everyone thinks that he sings and dances
But no—-
He is the only one singing,
He is the only one dancing.
The Roses are in Bloom - Rumi:
Come, come,
The roses are in bloom!
Come, come,
The Beloved has arrived!
Now is the time to unite
the soul and the world.
Now is the time to see the sunlight
dancing as one with the shadows.
Laugh at those faithless men
who boast with loud voices.
Weep for that friend
who has turned away from the Friend.
The whole city is trembling with fear
now that the madman
has broken from his chains.
What a day!
What a day!
A day of upheaval!
A day of revolt!
Perhaps the scroll
that records every deed
is falling from the sky!
Beat the drum,
Speak no more—
The heart has gone,
The mind has gone,
The soul, too, has gone
to the Beloved.
Untitled by Rumi:
You have two hands, two legs, and two eyes.
But if your heart and the Beloved are also two,
what good is that?
You call out, I am the lover,
But these are mere words.
If you see lover and Beloved as two,
you either have double vision,
or you can’t count
Do not think me gentle
because I speak in praise
of gentleness, or elegant
because I honor the grace
that keeps this world. I am
a man crude as any,
gross of speech, intolerant,
stubborn, angry, full
of fits and furies. That I
may have spoken well
at times, is not natural.
A wonder is what it is.
