[Sunlight] "To master myself would be enough" -- Ghazal 1523

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Here, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 1523, from Rumi's "Diwan-e
Shams" ("The Collection of Shams"), in a poetic translation by Nader
Khalili, and in a translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi:

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i am no lion
to overpower my enemies
winning over myself
if i can
is enough

though i'm of lowly earth
since i nourish a seed
named love
i'll grow lilies of the field

when i'm pitch-black
lamenting separation
i know for sure
i will break through
spreading light on the dark night

i am on fire inside
but look grim outside
since i want to rise
like smoke through my cell

i am a child whose teacher is love.
surely my master won't let me grow
to be a fool

-- Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, 1994

*Note: for more information on the architect Nader Khalili, please
see http://www.calearth.org/naderkha.htm

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I can't pretend to be a lion able to conquer the enemy
to master myself would be enough.
I am only the dust on my Lover's path and from dust
I will rise and turn into a flower.
Dark like the night I mourn and hold the pain
of love inside me.
But bright like the Moon I will rise from the darkness
for I have seen the source of light and being a child
whose tutor is love I will not grow up ignorant.
I will rise like a flame out of love's fire
and become infinite like love.
When I reach my end, play the music
that will lift me up to Spirit.

-- Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
"Rumi: Hidden Music"
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

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[Sunlight] "To master myself would be enough" -- Ghazal 1523