"Auction"

Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 735, in a version by Coleman
Barks, and in translation by A.J. Arberry:

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Auction

As elephants remember India
perfectly, as mind dissolves,

as song begins, as the glass

fills, wind rising, a roomful

of conversation, a sanctuary
of prostration, a bird lights

on my hand in this day born of
friends, this ocean covering

everything, all roads opening,
a person changing to kindness,

no one reasonable, religious
jargon forgotten, and Saladin

there raising his hand to bid
on the bedraggled boy Joseph.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
(based on a Nevit Ergin translation)
"The Soul of Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 2001

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last night our elephant remembered India again, in frenzy
he was rending the veil of night till dawn.
Last night the flagons of the sakis were all overbrimming
- O may our life be like last night till the day of resurrection!
The wines were bubbling and the reasons were senseless on
account of him; may part and whole, thorn and rose by happy
because of his lovely face!
The cup-on-cup clamour of the drunkards mounted to
heaven; in our hands was the wine, and in our heads the wind.
Thousands of uproars fell upon the skies because of
these, there hundreds of thousands of Kai-Qubads were fallen pros-
trate.
The day of triumph and good fortune was contained in our
night; of the brethren of purity night suddenly gave birth to
such a day.
The sea broke into waves; heaven received a token of this
night, and in pride set that token on its head and face.
Whatever ways humanity had closed in darkness, the light
of divinity in compassion was opening up.
How should the sensible forms on account of that passion
remain in place? How should he remain in place who attains
this desire?
Begin life anew, Moslems! For the Beloved has converted
non-entity into being, and dispensed justice to the lovers.
Our Beloved henceforward holds the fallen to be pardon-
able, because wherever He is the saki no one remains on the
right course.
The surging of the sea of grace, Moslems, has wrecked the
pomp of personal effort and the programme of belief.
That grace is King Salah al-Din, for he is a Joseph whom the
Lord of Egypt himself must purchase at a great price.

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

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

"Auction"

Inside this new love, die

Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 636, in versions by Coleman Barks
and Jonathan Star, and in translation by A.J. Arberry:

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone
suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You're covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you have died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.

The speechless full moon
comes out now.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"These Branching Moments"
Copper Beech Press, 1988

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"The Black Cloud"

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself in this love.
When you lose yourself in this love,
you will find everything.

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself.
Do not fear this loss,
For you will rise from the earth
and embrace the endless heavens.

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself.
Escape from this earthly form,
For this body is a chain
and you are its prisoner.
Smash through the prison wall
and walk outside with the kings and princes.

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself at the foot of the glorious King.
When you lose yourself
before the King
you will become the King.

Lose yourself,
Lose yourself.
Escape from the black cloud
that surrounds you.
Then you will see your own light
as radiant as the full moon.

Now enter that silence.
This is the surest way
to lose yourself....

What is your life about, anyway? -
Nothing but a struggle to be someone,
Nothing but a running from your own silence.

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

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Die now, die now, in this Love die; when you have died in
this Love, you will all receive new life.
Die now, die now, and do not fear this death, for you will
come forth from this earth and seize the heavens.
Die now, die now, and break away from this carnal soul, for
this carnal soul is as a chain and you are as prisoners.
Take an axe to dig through the prison; when you have
broken the prison you will all be kings and princes.
Die now, die now before the beauteous King; when you
have died before the King, you will all be kings and renowned.
Die now, die now, and come forth from this cloud; when
you come forth from this cloud, you will all be radiant full moons.
Be silent, be silent; silence is the sign of death; it is because
of life that you are fleeing from the silent one.

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

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/ybndd7

Inside this new love, die

"All colors become one"

The baptism of God is the dyeing vat of Hu,
God's absoluteness, in which all colors become one.
When the contemplative falls into that vat—
and you say, "Come out,"
He says, "I am the vat. Don't blame me."
That "I am the vat"
means the same as "I am God."
The red-hot iron has taken on the color of fire.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sebghat Allâh hast khom-e rang-e Hu
pis-hâ yek rang gardad andaru
Chon dar ân khom oftad va guyish qom
az tarab guyad manam khom lâ talomm
n manam khom khvod anâ al-Haqq goftanast
rang-e âtesh dârad ellâ âhanast

-- Mathnawi II : 1345-1347
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/wau2q

"All colors become one"

The next is born from the last

look at love
how it tangles
with the one fallen in love

look at spirit
how it fuses with earth
giving it new life

why are you so busy
with this or that or good or bad
pay attention to how things blend

why talk about all
the known and the unknown
see how the unknown merges into the known

why think seperately
of this life and the next
when one is born from the last

look at your heart and tongue
one feels but deaf and dumb
the other speaks in words and signs

look at water and fire
earth and wind
enemies and friends all at once

the wolf and the lamb
the lion and the deer
far away yet together

look at the unity of this
spring and winter
manifested in the equinox

you too must mingle my friends
since the earth and the sky
are mingled just for you and me

be like sugarcane
sweet yet silent
don't get mixed up with bitter words

my beloved grows
right out of my own heart
how much more union can there be

-- Ghazal 2381, from Rumi's "Diwan-e Shams"
Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Cal-Earth Press, 1995

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/yacl2m

The next is born from the last

"Is there a window from heart to heart?"

^ ^ ^

Is there a window from heart to heart?
After all, the shaykh sees your thoughts
as if through a window.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Guyi panhân mi zanam âtesh zaneh
nah be-qalb az qalb bâshad rawzaneh
kher az rawzan be-binad fekr-e to
del govâhi dehad az zekr-e to

--Mathnawi, II:1587-1588
Rumi: Daylight
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/y2ey5d

"Is there a window from heart to heart?"