The Persian Mystics: Jalálu'd-dín Rúmí

Rumi · en
This is Love: to fly heavenward,
    To rend, every instant, a hundred veils.
    The first moment, to renounce Life:
    The last step, to feel without feet.
    To regard this world as invisible,
    Not to see what appears to one's self.
    "O heart," I said, "may it bless thee
    To have entered the circle of lovers,
    To look beyond the range of the eye,
    To penetrate the windings of the bosom!
    Whence did this breath come to thee, O my soul,
    Whence this throbbing, O my heart?"




    THE JOURNEY TO THE BELOVED

    O lovers, O lovers, it is time to abandon the world:
    The drum of departure reaches my spiritual ear from heaven.
    Behold, the driver has risen and made ready his files of camels,
    And begged us to acquit him of blame: why, O travellers, are you
        asleep?
    These sounds before and behind are the din of departure and of the
        camel-bells;
    With each moment a soul and spirit is setting off into the Void.
    From these inverted candles, from these blue awnings
    There has come forth a wondrous people, that the mysteries may be
        revealed.
    A heavy slumber fell upon thee from the circling spheres:
    Alas, for this life so light, beware of this slumber so heavy!
    O soul, seek the Beloved, O friend, seek the Friend,
    O watchman, be wakeful: it behoves not a watchman to sleep.




    THE DAY OF RESURRECTION

    On every side is clamour and tumult, in every street are candles and
        torches,
    For to-night the teeming world gives birth to the World Everlasting.
    Thou wert dust and art spirit, thou wert ignorant and art wise.
    He who has led thee thus far will lead thee further also.
    How pleasant are the pains He makes thee suffer while He gently draws
        thee to Himself!




    THE RETURN OF THE BELOVED

    Always at night returns the Beloved: do not eat opium to-night;
    Close your mouth against food, that you may taste the sweetness
        of the mouth.
    Lo, the cup-bearer is no tyrant, and in his assembly there is a
        circle:
    Come into the circle, be seated; how long will you regard the
        revolution (of Time)?
         * * * * * * * *¨* * * * * * *
    Why, when God's earth is so wide, have you fallen asleep in
        a prison?
    Avoid entangled thoughts, that you may see the explanation of
        Paradise.
    Refrain from speaking, that you may win speech hereafter.
    Abandon life and the world, that you may behold the Life of
        the world.




    THE CALL OF THE BELOVED

    Every morning a voice comes to thee from heaven:
    "When thou lay'st the dust of the way, thou win'st thy way to
        the goal."
    On the road to the Ka'ba of Union, lo, in every thorn-bush
    Are thousands slain of desire who manfully yielded up their lives.
    Thousands sank wounded on this path, to whom there came not
    A breath of the fragrance of Union, a token from the neighbourhood
        of the Friend.