[Sunlight] "Loving one's shaykh" -- Ghaal 1310

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Oh mouthpiece of God! Oh eye of the Realities!
Oh thou who deliverest the creatures from this ocean full of
fire!
Thou art a very ancient shaykh, a king
unparalleled! Take the spirit by the hand and free it from the
affliction of its attachments!
In the way of self-sacrifice, thou huntest for
spirits. Alas, which of these spirits are worthy to be thy prey?
Who indeed is the creature to brag of love for
thee? Oh, the light of the Creator's Majesty is in love with thy
beauty.
You say, "What am I to do, for I am the prey of
his love? I am distressed and lovesick"-- oh, thou art a skillful
physician!
Thy gentleness says, "Come forward!" Thy
severity says, "Go back!" Let me know at once, which of them
speaks the truth?
Oh sun of the spirits! Oh Shams of Tabriz, sun
of God! Every ray of thy sunbeams is a subtle and eloquent
spirit!

-- Ghazal (Ode) 1310
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

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[Sunlight] "Loving one's shaykh" -- Ghaal 1310

[Sunlight] "What do you really possess?"

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What do you really possess,
and what have you gained?
What pearls have you brought up
from the depth of the sea?
On the day of death,
bodily senses will vanish:
do you have the spiritual light
to accompany your heart?
When dust fills these eyes in the grave,
will your grave shine bright?

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

To cheh dâri va cheh hâsel kardeh-'i
az tag-e daryâ cheh dorr âvordeh-'i
Ruz-e marg in hess-e to bâtel shavad
nur-e jân dâri keh yâr-e del shavad
Dar lahd kin chashm-râ khâk âganad
hastet ânche gur-râ rawshan konad

-- Mathnawi II:939-941
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Daylight
Threshold Books, 1994
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

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~

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[Sunlight] "What do you really possess?"

[Sunlight] "For I am born of the Sun" -- Ghazal 1621

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I only speak of the Sun
because the Sun is my Master
I worship even the dust at His feet.
I am not a night-lover and do not praise sleep
I am the messenger of the Sun!
Secretly I will ask Him and pass the answers to you.
Like the Sun I shine on those who are forsaken
I may look drunk and disheveled but I speak the Truth.
Tear off the mask, your face is glorious,
your heart may be cold as stone but
I will warm it with my raging fire.
No longer will I speak of sunsets or rising Moons,
I will bring you love's wine
for I am born of the Sun
I am a King!

-- Ghazal (Ode) 1621
Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

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~

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[Sunlight] "For I am born of the Sun" -- Ghazal 1621

[Sunlight] "Generation upon generation"

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This world and that world are forever giving birth:
every cause is a mother; the effect is born as a child.
When the effect was born, it too became a cause,
so that it might give birth to wondrous effects.
These causes follow generation upon generation,
but it takes a very well-illuminated eye
to see all the links in the chain.

~ ~ ~

in jahân va ân jahân zâyad abad
har sabab mâdar asar zâyad valad
Chon asar zâyid ân ham shod sabab
tâ be-zâyid u asar-hâ-ye `ajab
in sabab-hâ nasl bar naslast layk
dideh-'i bâyad monavvar nik nik

-- Mathnawi II: 1000-1002
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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~

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[Sunlight] "Generation upon generation"

[Sunlight] "Show me the ladder, that I may mount up to heaven" -- Ghazal 19

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Here, Sunlight offers two renditions of Ghazal (Ode) 19 -- a
version by Coleman Barks, and the translation by A.J. Arberry,
upon which Barks based his version:

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Any Chance Meeting

In every gathering, in any chance meeting
on the street, there is a shine,
an elegance rising up.

Today, I recognized that that jewel-like beauty
is the presence, our loving confusion,
the glow in which watery clay
gets brighter than fire,

the one we call the Friend.
I begged, "Is there a way into you,
a ladder?"
"Your head is the ladder.
Bring it down under your feet."
The mind, this globe
of awareness, is a starry universe that when
you push off from it with your foot,

a thousand new roads come clear, as you yourself
do at dawn, sailing through the light.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"Say I am You"
Maypop, 1994

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Today I beheld the beloved, that ornament of every affair;
he went off departing to heaven like the spirit of Mustafa.
The sun is put to shame by his countenance, heaven's sphere is
as confused as the heart; through his glow, water and clay are
more resplendent than fire.
I said, "Show me the ladder, that I may mount up to heaven."
He said, "Your head is the ladder; bring your head down under
your feet."
When you place your feet on your head, you will place your
feet on the head of the stairs; when you cleave through the air, set
your foot on the air, so, and come!
A hundred ways to heaven's air become manifest to you; you
go flying up to heaven every dawning like a prayer.

-- Translation by A.J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"
University of Chicago Press, 1991

Arberry's notes:

1. "Like the spirit of Mustafa": a reference to the famous mi'raj
(Ascension) of Muhammad. The orthodox view was that his ascension was
bodily, but Rumi is attracted by the double meaning of "ravan"
("departing" and "spirit").
2. "Confused": literally, "latticed"
3. "Your head is the ladder; bring your head down under your feet."
-- prostration in prayer, the subjection of reason to spirit.

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

~

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[Sunlight] "Show me the ladder, that I may mount up to heaven" -- Ghazal 19