Friday, June 01, 2007

"Go not without me"

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Here, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 2195, in four presentations:
versions by Star and Barks, and translations by Schimmel and
Arberry:


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O Sky, don't revolve without me!
O moon, do not shine without me!
O earth, do not go without me!
O Time, do not go without me!
This world is enchanted by you,
that world is enchanted by you
Don't stay without me in this world!
Don't go to that world without me!
Your face, yonder radiant moon
makes lucid and lights our night
I'm only the night, you're the moon . . .
Don't go to the spheres without me!
The rose, she is kind to the thorn
and she protects him from fire
Look, you are the rose, I'm the thorn!
Don't go to your home without me!

-- Translation by Annemarie Schimmel
"Look! This is Love - Poems of Rumi"
Shambhala, 1991

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Don't Go Without Me


Dancing in ecstasy you go,
my soul of souls
Don't go without me.
Laughing with your friends
you enter the garden
Don't go without me.

Don't let the sky turn without me.
Don't let the Moon shine without me.
Don't let the Earth spin without me.
Don't let the days pass without me.

The two worlds are joyous
because of you.
Don't stay in this world without me.
Don't go to the next world without me.

Don't let your eyes look without me.
Don't let your tongue speak without me.
Don't let your hands hold without me.
Don't let your soul stir without me.

Moonlight reveals the sky's bright face.
I am the light, you are the Moon
Don't rise without me.

The thorn is protected by the rose!
You are the rose, I am the thorn
Don't show your beauty without me.

I am the curve of your mallet,
the bits of stone beneath your chisel.
Don't strike the stone without me.
Don't move the chisel without me.

O joyous companion of the King,
Don't drink without me.
O watchman on the rooftop,
Don't stay up without me.

Woe to those who travel alone . . .
You know every sign,
You've walked upon every path
Don't go without me.

Some call you love,
I call you the King of Love.
You are beyond all imaginings,
taking me places
I can't even dream of.
O Ruler of my Heart,
wherever you go . . .

Don't go without me.

-- Version by Jonathan Star
"Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved"
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

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In the Arc of Your 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 rose
nearest 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 go
up 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.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"Open Secret"
Threshold Books, 1984

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Sweetly parading, you go, my soul of soul, go not without me;
life of your friends, enter not the garden without me.
Sky, revolve not without me; moon, shine not without me;
earth travel not without me, and time, go not without me.
With you this world is joyous, and with you that world is
joyous; in this world dwell not without me, and to that world depart
not without me.
Vision, know not without me, and tongue, recite not without
me; glance behold not without me, and soul, go not without me.
The night through the moon's light sees its face white; I am
light, you are my moon, go not to heaven without me.
The thorn is secure from the fire in the shelter of the roses
face: you are the rose, I your thorn; go not into the rose garden
without me.
I run in the curve of your mallet when your eye is with me;
even so gaze upon me, drive not without me, go not without me.
When, joy, you are companion of the king, drink not without
me; when, watchman, you go to the kings roof, go not without me.
Alas for him who goes on this road without your sign; since
you, O signless one, are my sign, go not without me.
Alas for him who goes on the road without my knowledge;
you are the knowledge of the road for me; O road-knower, go
not without me.
Others call you love, I call you the king of love; O you who
are higher than the imagination of this and that, go not without me.

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
The University of Chicago Press, 1991

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/yvqje7

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