without the capital

The lover's food is the love of the bread;

no bread need be at hand:

no one who is sincere in his love is a slave to existence.

Lovers have nothing to do with with with existence;

lovers have the interest without the capital.

Without wings they fly around the world;

without hands they carry the polo ball off the field.

That dervish who caught the scent of Reality

used to weave basket even though his hand had been cut off.

Lover have pitched their tents in nonexistence:

they are of one quality and one essence, as nonexistence is.

Mathnawi III, 3020-3024

progress!

First he appeared in the realm inanimate;

Thence came into the world of plants and lived

The plant-life many a year, nor called to mind

What he had been; then took the onward way

To animal existence, and once more

Remembers naught of what life vegetive,

Save when he feels himself moved with desire

Towards it in the season of sweet flowers,

As babes that seek the breast and know not why.

Again the wise Creator whom thou knowest

Uplifted him from animalityTo Man's estate;

and so from realm to realmAdvancing,

he became intelligent,Cunning and keen of wit,

as he is now.No memory of his past abides with him,

And from his present soul he shall be changes.

Though he is fallen asleep,

God will not leave him In this forgetfulness.

Awakened,

heWill laugh to think what troublous dreams he had.

And wonder how his happy state of being

He could forget, and not perceive that all Those pains and sorrows

were the effect of sleep

And guile and vain illusion.

So this world Seems lasting,

though 'tis but the sleepers' dream;

Who, when the appointed Day shall dawn,

escapes From dark imaginings that haunted him,

And turns with laughter on his phantom griefs

When he beholds his everlasting home.

the day i've died

The day I've died, my pall is moving on

-But do not think my heart is still on earth!

Don't weep and pity me: "Oh woe, how awful!"

You fall in devil's snare

- woe, that is awful!

Don't cry "Woe, parted!" at my burial

-For me this is the time of joyful meeting!

Don't say "Farewell!" when I'm put in the grave

-A curtain is it for eternal bliss.

You saw "descending"

- now look at the rising!

Is setting dangerous for sun and moon?

To you it looks like setting, but it's rising;

The coffin seems a jail,

yet it means freedom.

Which seed fell in the earth that did not grow there?

Why do you doubt the fate of human seed?

What bucket came not filled from out the cistern?

Why should the Yusaf "Soul" then fear this well?

Close here your mouth and open it on that side

.So that your hymns may sound in Where- no-place!

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 quietness.

Let your tongue become that flower.

go and die!

Go and die, go and die,

For this love go and die,

When in this love you die

You will let spirits fly.

Go and die, go and die,

Fear no death, don’t be shy

When in this dust you lie

Your spirit will soar up high.

Go and die, go and die,

Let this existence pass by

This existence is your tie

And prisoners you and I.

With an axe cut the tie

And this, your prison, defy

When your chains you untie

With Kings, identify.

Go and die, go and die,

The handsome King satisfy

For the Lord when you die

Your glories multiply

.
Go and die, go and die,

Like the tearful clouds, cry

When the cloud has run dry

You are the light of the eye.

Silence try, silence try

As close as you get to die

All your life, you apply

Your sigh and silence deny.

a thirsty fish

I don't get tired of you.

Don't grow weary

of being compassionate toward me!

All this thirst equipment

must surely be tired of me,

the water jar, the water carrier.

I have a thirsty fish in me

that can never find enough

of what it's thirsty for!

Show me the way to the ocean!

Break these half-measures,

these small containers.

All this fantasy and grief.

Let my house be drowned in the wave

that rose last night in the courtyard

hidden in the center of my chest.

Joseph fell like the moon into my well.

The harvest I expected was washed away.

But no matter.

A fire has risen above my tombstone hat.

I don't want learning, or dignity,or respectability.

I want this music and this dawn

and the warmth of your cheek against mine.

The grief-armies assemble,

but I'm not going with them.

This is how it always is

when I finish a poem.

A great silence comes over me,

and I wonder why I ever thought to use language!

translated by Coleman Barks

in every breath

in every breath

if you’re the center

of your own desires

you’ll lose the grace

of your beloved

but if in every breath

you blow away

your self claim

the ecstasy of love

will soon arrive

in every breath

if you’re the center

of your own thoughts

the sadness of autumn

will fall on you

but if in every breath

you strip naked

just like a winter

the joy of spring

will grow from within

all your impatience

comes from the push

for gain of patience

let go of the effort

and peace will arrive

all your unfulfilled desires

are from your greed

for gain of fulfillments

let go of them all

and they will be sent as gifts

fall in love with

the agony of love

not the ecstasy

then the beloved

will fall in love with you

Translation by Nader Khalili “Rumi, Fountain of Fire”Cal-Earth Press, 1994