where's the beloved

In truth everything and everyone
Is a shadow of the Beloved,
And our seeking is His seeking
And our words are His words...
We search for Him here and there,
while looking right at Him.
Sitting by His side, we ask:
'O Beloved, where is the Beloved?'

i long to see your face

"In the orchard and rose garden

I long to see your face.

In the taste of Sweetness

I long to kiss your lips.

In the shadows of passion

I long for your love.

Oh! Supreme Lover!

Let me leave aside my worries.

The flowers are blooming

with the exultation of your Spirit.

By Allah!

I long to escape the prison of my ego

and lose myself

in the mountains and the desert.

These sad and lonely people tire me.

I long to revel in the drunken frenzy of your love

and feel the strength of Rustam in my hands.

I’m sick of mortal kings.

I long to see your light.

With lamps in hand

the sheiks and mullahs roam

the dark alleys of these towns

not finding what they seek.

You are the Essence of the Essence,

The intoxication of Love.

I long to sing your praises

but stand mute

with the agony of wishing in my heart."

nearer to you than your neck-vein

God is "what is nearer to you than your neck-vein,"
You have cast the arrow of speculation afar off.
O you, who have made ready your bow and arrows,
The game is close to you, and you shoot too far off.
The further a man shoots, the further off he is,
And the more removed from the treasure he seeks.
The philosopher kills himself with thinking,
Tell him that his back is turned to that treasure;
Tell him that the more he runs to and fro,
The further he is removed from his heart's desire.
The Almighty says, "Make efforts in our ways,"
Not "Make efforts away from us," O restless one.

be lost in the call

Lord, said David,

since you do not need us,

why did you create these two worlds?
Reality replied: O prisoner of time,

I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,

and I wished this treasure to be known,

so I created a mirror:

its shining face, the heart;

its darkened back, the world;

The back would please you

if you've never seen the face.
Has anyone ever

produced a mirror out of mud and straw?

Yet clean away the mud and straw,

and a mirror might be revealed.
Until the juice ferments

a while in the cask,

it isn't wine.

If you wish your heart to be bright,

you must do a little work.
My King addressed the soul of my flesh:

You return just as you left.

Where are the traces of my gifts?
We know that alchemy

transforms copper into gold.

This Sun doesn't want a crown

or robe from God's grace.

He is a hat to a hundred bald men,

a covering for ten who were naked.
Jesus sat humbly on the back of an ass,

my child!How could a zephyr ride an ass?

Spirit, find your way,

in seeking lowness like a stream.

Reason, tread the path of selflessness into eternity.
Remember God so much

that you are forgotten.

Let the caller and the called disappear;

be lost in the Call

Not every eye can see,

My heart, sit only with those

who know and understand you.

Sit only under a tree

that is full of blossoms.

In the bazaar of herbs and potions

don't wander aimlessly

find the shop with a potion

that is sweet

If you don't have a measure

people will rob you in no time.

You will take counterfeit coins

thinking they are real.

Don't fill your bowl with food

from every boiling pot you see.

Not every joke is humorous,

so don't search for meaning

where there isn't one.

Not every eye can see,

not every sea is full of pearls.

My hart, sing the song of longing

like nightingale.

The sound of your voice casts

a spellon every stone,

on every thorn.

First, lay down your head

then one by one

let go of all distractions.

Embrace the light

and let it guide you

beyond the winds of desire.

There you will find a spring

and nourished

by its see waters

like a tree you will bear fruit forever.

Rumi: The Hidden Music

by Maryam Mafi & Azima Melita Kolin

i've come again

i've come again

like a new year

to crash the gate

of this old prison
i've come again

to break the teeth and claws

of this man-eating

monster we call life

i've come again

to puncture the

glory of the cosmos

who mercilessly

destroys humans

i am the falcon

hunting down the birds

of black omen

before their flights

i gave my word

at the outset to give my life

with no qualms

i pray to the Lord

to break my back

before i break my word

how do you dare to

let someone like me

intoxicated with love

enter your house

you must know better

if i enter

i'll break all this and

destroy all that

if the sheriff arrivesi'll throw the wine

in his face

if your gate

keeper pulls my hand

i'll break his arm

if the heavens don't go round

to my heart's desire

i'll crush its wheels

and pull out its roots

you have set up

a colorful table

calling it life and

asked me to your feast

but punish me if

i enjoy myself

what tyranny is this

the arc of mallet

Don't go anywhere without me

Let nothing happen in the sky apart from me,

or on the ground,

in this world or that world,

without my being in its happening.

Vision, see nothing I don't see.

Language, say nothing.

The way the night knows itself

with the moon,

be that with me.

Be the rosenearest to the thorn

that I am.

I want to feel myself in you

when you taste food,

in the arc of your mallet

when you work,

when you visit friends,

when you goup on the roof

by yourself at night.

There's nothing worse

than to walk out along the street

without you.

I don't know where I'm going.

You're the road,

and the knower of roads,

more than maps,

more than love.

unselfed

A moment of happiness,

you and I sitting on the verandah,

apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.

We feel the flowing water of life here,

you and I, with the garden's beauty

and the birds singing.

The stars will be watching us,

and we will show them

what it is to be a thin crescent moon.

You and I unselfed, will be together,

indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.

The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar

as we laugh together, you and I.

In one form upon this earth,

and in another form in a timeless sweet land.

Confused and distraught

Again I am raging, I am in such a state by your soul

that everybond you bind, I break, by your soul.

I am like heaven, like the moon, like a candle by your glow;

I am all reason, all love, all soul, by your soul.

My joy is of your doing, my hangover of your thorn;

whatever side you turn your face,

I turn mine, by your soul.

I spoke in error;

it is not surprising to speak in error in this state,

for this moment I cannot tell cup from wine,

by your soul.

I am that madman in bonds who binds the "divs";

I, the mad man,am a Solomon with the "divs",

by your soul.

Whatever form other than love raises up its head from my heart,

forthwith I drive it out of the court of my heart,

by your soul.Come, you who have departed,

for the thing that departscomes back;

neither you are that, by my soul,

nor I am that, by your soul.

Disbeliever, do not conceal disbelief in your soul,

for I will recitethe secret of your destiny, by your soul.

Out of love of Sham-e Tabrizi,

through wakefulness or nightrising,

like a spinning mote I am distraught, by your soul

"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2" A. J. ArberryThe University of Chicago Press, 1991