-
(cut and pasted off of a webpage: http://aprilillumination.blogspot.co...of-desire.html . I *think* this is the whole poem, but maybe just an excerpt.)
Wings Of Desire
People are distracted by objects of desire,
and afterward repent of the lust they've indulged,
because they have indulged with a phantom
and are left even farther from Reality than before.
Your desire for the illusory could be a wing,
by means of which a seeker might ascend to Reality.
When you have indulged in lust, your wing drops off;
you become lame, abandoned by a fantasy.
Preserve the wing and don't indulge in such lust,
so that the wing of desire may bear you to Paradise.
People fancy they are enjoying themselves,
but they are really tearing out their wings
for the sake of an illusion.
-
Some short ones I liked...
With the Beloved's water of life, no illness remains
In the Beloved's rose garden of union, no thorn remains.
They say there is a window from one heart to another
How can there be a window where no wall remains?
From Thief of Sleep
by Shahram Shiva
A Smile and A Gentleness
There is a smile and a gentleness
inside. When I learned the name
and address of that, I went to where
you sell perfume. I begged you not
to trouble me so with longing. Come
out and play! Flirt more naturally.
Teach me how to kiss. On the ground
a spread blanket, flame that's caught
and burning well, cumin seeds browning,
I am inside all of this with my soul.
From Essential Rumi
by Coleman Barks
Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy,
absentminded. Someone sober
will worry about things going badly.
Let the lover be.
From Essential Rumi
by Coleman Barks
One thing that I learned about Rumi a couple weeks ago, was that his followers were the ones who founded the Mevlevi Order, otherwise known as the Whirling Dervishes. I am now very interested in them. I hope I could meet them sometime...
I found about them through a Sufi group here which is part of the Chisti Order. The Mevlevi Order is another order within Sufism.
-
I think, after reading this passage, if I'm to respect Rumi's wishes, I have to quote this one before I can quote any more poems of his. :)
Man bandeye qor'Anam agar jAn dAram
man khAke rAhe mohammade mokhtAram
gar naghal konad joz in kas az goftAram
bizAram az o v-az in sokhan bizAram.
I am the servant of the Qur'an as long as I have life.
I am the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen One.
If anyone quotes anything except this from my sayings,
I am quit of him and outraged by these words.
