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Here, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 2730, from the Divan-e Shams,
in an interpretive version by Coleman Barks, and in a translation
by William Chittick:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A King Dressed As a Servant
A sweet voice calls out,
"The caravan from Egypt is here!"
A hundred camels with what amazing treasure!
Midnight, a candle and someone quietly
waking me, "Your friend has come."
I spring out of my body, put a ladder
to the roof, and climb up to see if
it's true.
Suddenly, there is a world within this world!
An ocean inside the water jar!
A king sitting with me wearing
the uniform of a servant!
A garden in the chest of the gardener!
I see how love has "thoughts,"
and that these thoughts are circulating
in conversation with majesty.
Let me keep opening this moment
like a dead body reviving.
Shamsi Tabriz saw the placeless one
and from That, made a place.
-- Version by Coleman Barks
"Say I am You"
Maypop, 1994
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A sugar-lipped sweetheart brought news, "A caravan
has come from Egypt!
A hundred camels, all sugar and candy, oh
Lord, what a fine gift!
A candle has come at midnight! A spirit has entered
a corpse!"
I said, "Speak plainly!" She said, "You-know-who
has come."
My heart flew up in joy and placed a ladder at the
intellect's edge.
It rushed to the roof in its love, seeking a tangible
sign of that good news.
Suddenly, from the housetop, it saw a world outside
of our world
An all-encompassing ocean in a jug, a heaven in
the form of dust.
Upon the roof sat a king wearing the clothes of a
watchman.
An infinite garden and paradise within that gardener's
breast.
His image traveled from breast to breast, explaining
the Sultan of the heart.
Oh image of that king, flee not from my eyes!
Renew my heart for a moment!
Shams-I Tabrizi has seen No-place, and built from
it a place.
-- Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love - The Spiritual Teachings
of Rumi"
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1983
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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