Wednesday, December 24, 2008

[Sunlight] "Lies!" -- Ghazal 1299 and Notice of Sunlight Vacation

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Today, Sunlight offers Rumi's Ghazal (Ode) 1299, from the "Diwan-
e Shams" ("The Collection of Shams"), in a poetic version by Jonathan
Star, and in translation by A.J. Arberry.

The Sunlight mailing list will be on vacation until January 5.

http://www.autom.teithe.gr/~vivia/


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"Lies!"

They say,
"The King of Love will turn from His lovers." - Lies!
They say, "The darkness will never turn to dawn." - Lies!

They say, "Do not sacrifice your life for love's sake.
When the body dies, you will die." - Lies!

They say, "You can go beyond the cycle of time
but your soul can travel no further." - Lies!

People who are caught in their own vanity say,
"The lives of the prophets are nothing but fairy tales." -
Lies!

People who have lost their way say,
"The servant can never reach God." - Lies!

They say,
"The Knower of Secrets does not tell His
servants all the mysteries of the Unseen." - Lies!

They say,
"He does not reveal the heart's innermost secrets.
He does not lift His servants up to heaven." - Lies!

They say, "One who is born of Earth
will never join the angels of heaven." - Lies!

They say, "The Sun of God does not fill this whole world;
He misses a few atoms." - Lies!

Now go to that inner stillness.
Some say, "You will not hear the voice of God there." -
Lies!

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

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They say, "The king of love is not faithful." Lies! They say,
"Your night will never have a dawn." Lies!
They say, "Why do you slay yourself for love's sake? There is
no survival after the body's death." Lies!
They say, "Your tears shed in love are vain; once the eyes are
closed, there will be no encounter." Lies!
They say, "When we have gone outside the cycle of time,
beyond this soul of ours will not travel." Lies!
Those persons who have not escaped from fancy say, "The
stories of the prophets were all mere fancies." Lies!
Those persons who have not gone on the right way say, "The
servant has no way to come to God." Lies!
They say, "He who knows all secrets tells not the servant the
secrets and mysteries of the Unseen without intermediary!" Lies!
They say, "They open not to the servant the heart's secret, and
He does not graciously carry the servant up to heaven." Lies!
They say, "That one who has earth in his composition will
never be familiar with the heavenly host." Lies!
They say, "The ' pure soul will never fly on the wings of love
out of this earthly nest to the free air." Lies!
They say, "that sun of God will never bring retribution for
the several atoms' weight of evil and good of men." Lies!
Keep silent from speaking; and if anyone says to you, "Speech
has no other expression but letters and sounds" -- Lies!

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"
The University of Chicago Press, 1968

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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

[Sunlight] “Every effort finer than the one before”

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If you scrutinize the labor of those who follow falsehood,
you'll see that it stinks—
layer upon layer, like an onion—
every effort more pithless than the next.
While with the sincere,
every effort is finer than the one before.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gar be-kâvi kushesh-e ahl-e majâz
tu be-tu gandeh bud hamchon piyâz
Har yeki az yekdigar bi maghz-tar
sâdeqân-râ yek ze digar naghz-tar

-- Mathnawi II: 2900-2901
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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Monday, December 22, 2008

[Sunlight] “Burnt Kabob” -- Ghazal 2738

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"Burnt Kabob"

Last year I admired wines. This,
I'm wandering inside the red world.

Last year I gazed at the fire.
This year I'm a burnt kabob.

Thirst drove me down to the water
where I drank the moon's reflection.

Now I am a lion staring up,
totally lost in love with the thing itself.

Don't ask questions about longing.
Look in my face.

Soul-drunk, body-ruined, these two
sit helpless in a wrecked wagon.
Neither knows how to fix it.

And my heart, I'd say it was more
like a donkey, sunk in a mudhole,
struggling and miring deeper.

But listen to me: For one moment
quit being sad. Hear blessings
dropping their blossoms around you.
God.

-- Ghazal (Ode) 2738
Version by Coleman Barks
"The Essential Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 1997

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Friday, December 19, 2008

[Sunlight] "Overflowing with beloved" -- Quatrain 173

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Today, Sunlight offers two interpretations of Quatrain 173:

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I am filled with you.
Skin, blood, bone, brain and soul.
There's no room for lack of trust, or trust.
Nothing in this existence but that existence.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
Unseen Rain
Threshold Books, 1986

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in my heart
inside and out
is all beloved
in my body
blood and veins
is none but beloved
how can there by any
room for religion
or Godlessness in me
since my existence
is overflowing
with beloved

-- Translation by Nader Khalili
"Dancing the Flame"
Cal-Earth, 2001

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