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Today, Sunlight offers Ghazal 2293, in translations by Professor
Arberry and Professor Chittick:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I keep on seeing a moon in my eyes outside of
my eyes, but the eyes have not seen him, nor have the ears
heard news of him.
From the moment I first looked furtively at that
face, I have seen neither tongue, spirit, nor heart except in
selflessness.
If Plato had seen the beauty and loveliness of
that moon, he would have become madder than I and more
distraught.
Eternity is the mirror of temporality and
temporality of Eternity: In that mirror, these two are
intertwined like his two tresses.
Beyond sense perception is a cloud whose rain
is all spirit – what rains have rained as largesse upon the dust
of his body!
The moon-faced beauties of heaven have seen
the reflection of his face – ashamed at his beauty, they scratch
their heads in wonder.
Eternity-without-beginning grasped the hand of
Eternity-without-end and together they went to the palace of
that moon. Jealously looked at the two and laughed:
"Around his palace what lions have come out of
jealousy, roaring for the blood of the self-sacrificers and
the sincere."
Suddenly I asked, "Who is that king?" "Shams
al-Din, the king of Tabriz," and my blood began to boil.
-- William C. Chittick,
"The Sufi Path of Love - The Spiritual Teachings
of Rumi,"
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1983
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am seeing a moon outside the eye in the eye, which neither
eye has seen nor ear heard of.
I do not see tongue and soul and heart save without myself,
from that moment that I stole a glance at that cheek.
Had Plato seen the loveliness and beauty of that moon, he
would have become madder and more distressed than I.
Eternity is the mirror of the temporal, the temporal the mirror
of pre-eternity – in this mirror those two are twisted together
like his tresses.
A cloud beyond the senses whose rain is all spirit; sprinkling
on the dust of the body – what rains he has rained!
The moonfaced ones of heaven, seeing the picture of his
face, have become ashamed before that beauty and scratched
the back of their necks*.
Post-eternity took the hand of pre-eternity and took it towards
the palace of that moon: having seen both, it laughed in jealous
pride at the two.
About and around his palace what lions there are, roaring
jealously, aiming at the blood of the self-sacrificing, adventurous
men.
Suddenly the word jumped from my mouth, "Who is that
king? Shams-al din king of Tabriz"; and at those words my
blood surged.
-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2,"
The University of Chicago Press, 1991
*To scratch the back of one's neck or ear signifies embarrassment.
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