[Sunlight] This Marriage -- Ghazal 2667

~

Here, Sunlight presents Ghazal (Ode) 2667, written by Rumi for his
son's wedding, in a version by Coleman Barks, a version by Kabir
Helminski, and in a translation by A.J. Arberry:

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

This marriage be wine with halvah, honey dissolving in milk.
This marriage be the leaves and fruit of a date tree.
This marraige be women laughing together for days on end.
This marriage, a sign for us to study.
This marriage, beauty.
This marriage, a moon in a light-blue sky.
This marriage, this silence fully mixed with spirit.

- Version by Coleman Barks
The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia
Omega Publications, 1993

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This Marriage

May these vows and this marriage be blessed.
May it be sweet milk,
this marriage, like wine and halvah.
May this marriage offer fruit and shade
like the date palm.
May this marriage be full of laughter,
our every day a day in paradise.
May this marriage be a sign of compassion,
a seal of happiness here and hereafter.
May this marriage have a fair face and a good name,
an omen as welcome
as the moon in a clear blue sky.
I am out of words to describe
how spirit mingles in this marriage.

-- Version by Kabir Helminski
Love is a Stranger
Threshold Books, 1993

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

May these nuptials be blessed for us, may this marriage be
blessed for us,
May it be ever like milk and sugar, this marriage like wine
and halvah.
May this marriage be blessed with leaves and fruits like the
date tree;
May this marriage be laughing forever, today, tomorrow, like
the houris of paradise.
May this marriage be the sign of compassion and the approval
of happiness here and hereafter;
May this marriage be fair of fame, fair of face and fair of
omen as the moon in the azure sky.
I have fallen silent for words cannot describe how the spirit
has mingled with this marriage.

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
The University of Chicago Press, 1991

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

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[Sunlight] This Marriage -- Ghazal 2667

[Sunlight] "Die before you die"

~

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

The Messenger of good tidings said, speaking symbolically,
"Die before you die, generous ones,
even as I have died before death
and brought this reminder from Beyond."
Become the resurrection of the spirit,
so you may experience the resurrection:
this becoming is necessary for seeing and knowing
the real nature of anything.
Until you become it, you will not know it completely,
whether it be light or darkness.
If you become Reason, you will know Reason perfectly;
if you become Love, you will know Love's flaming wick.

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

Bahr-e in goft Rasul-e khvosh payâm
ramz-e "Mûtû qabla mawt yâ kirâm
hamchonânkeh mordeh-'am min qabl mawt
z-ân taraf âvordeh-'am in sit o sawt"
Pas qiyâmat shaw qiyâmat-râ be-bin
didan-e har chiz-râ shartast in
Tâ na-gardi u na-dâni-'esh tamâm
khvâh ân anvâr bâshad yâ zolâm
`Aql gardi `Aql-râ dâni kamâl
`Eshq gardi `Eshq-râ dâni zobâl

-- Mathnawi VI: 754-758
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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

~

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[Sunlight] "Die before you die"

[Sunlight] "I am not satiated" -- Ghazal 2244

~

Sunlight presents Ode 2244 - in a poetic version by
Coleman Barks and in a literal translation by A.J. Arberry:

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

I never get enough of laughing with you,
that wild humor.

Thirsty and dry, I complain, but everything is made of
water!
Lonely, yet my head leans against your shirt!
My wounded hands, your hands.

Do something drastic.

You say, "Come and sit in the innermost room,
where you'll be safe from the love-thief."

I reply, "But I've tried to be the ringknocker
on your door, so you won't have to
always be letting me in and out."

You say, "No. You stand on the threshold waiting,
and you're here in the inner chamber too.
You're at home in both places."

I love the quietness of such an answer.
Come to this table of quietness.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"We Are Three,"
Maypop, 1987

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am not satiated, not satiated with your laughing
lips; a thousand blessing on your lips and teeth!
Has any man ever wearied, my son, of his soul? You
are my soul since my soul and yours are one and the same.
I am thirsty and suffering from dryness, my death and
life are from water; pass around the cup, for I am the slave
of your turning around.
You make dispensation, go offer me to yourself that my
head may raise itself up from your shirt.
Though my two hands are wounded, my hand belongs to
you; of what use are my hands without your breath and
incantation?
Your love said, "Sir, come into my private chamber,
that no thief may make designs on your inner chamber."
I said, "Blessed one, I have become the ring on this
door so that no thought of me may trouble your doorkeeper."
He said, "You are both standing at the door and in my
bosom, exterior and interior - both homelands are yours.
Silence, and recite no more; sufficient should be this
hospitality and table. For all eternity Rum and Turk shall eat
of your table.

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
The University of Chicago Press, 1991

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

~

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[Sunlight] "I am not satiated" -- Ghazal 2244

[Sunlight] "Once again, once again I have escaped from my chains" -- Ghazal 1472

~

Here, Sunlight offers Molana Rumi's Ghazal 1472, in three
presentations: a translation by Khalili, a version from Barks, and
the translation by Arberry, from which Barks derived his version:

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

once again
i broke free of the chains
of the wicked traps
of this world

once again
by your youthful love
i was saved from
this fraud-filled wizard
we call life
non-stop
running day and night
i finally had to cut myself off
from this deadly routine
leaping free as an arrow
from the grip of the cosmic bow

now i have no more fear
of grief and anxiety
i've learned to compete
with death itself

i lived through my wits
for forty years
now at sixty-two
finally hunted down
i am free from struggle

bread becomes blood
blood transforms to milk
and now
that I have my wisdom teeth
i am in no need for more milk

-- Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire",
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994.

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

I have broken out again,
escaped from the tricky,
wiry shamans of ecstasy.

Running night and day to escape night and day.
Why fear grief
when Death walks so close beside?

Don't fear the General
if you're good friends with the Prince.

For forty years I made plans and worried about them.
Now sixty-two, I've escaped reasonableness.

By definition, human beings do not see or hear.
I broke loose from definition.

Skin outside, seeds inside,
a fig lives caught between, and like that fig,
I wiggle free.

Hesitation, deadly. Hurrying, worse.
Escape both delay and haste.

Fed first with blood in the womb,
then milk from the breast,
my clever teeth came in,
and I escaped even those.

Off balance, I grope for bread, a loaf or two,
until God gives the next food,
and I'm gone.

No more garlicky detail, no more meanings.
Only clean-breathed,
silent escaping.

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

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

Once again, once again I have escaped from my chains, I have
burst out of these bonds and this trap which seizes the infirm.
Heaven, the bent old man full of wizardry and deceit--by
virtue of your youthful fortune I have escaped from this old man.
Night and day I ran, I broke away from night and day; ask of
this sphere how like an arrow I sped.
Why should I fear sorrow? For I am the comrade of death.
Why should I fear the general? For I have escaped from the
prince.
Reason bore me down with anxiety for forty years; sixty-two*
has made me quarry, and I have escaped from devising.
All creatures have been made deaf or blind by predestination;
I have escaped from the deaf and blind of predestination, and
from predestination.
Outwardly skin, inwardly stone, the fruit is a prisoner; like a
fig, I have escaped from that skin and that stone.
Delay causes mischief, and haste is of the devil; my heart has
escaped from haste, and I have escaped from delay.
In the first place blood was the food,* in the end blood became
milk; when the teeth of reason sprouted, I escaped from that
milk;
I ran after bread, a loaf or two, by imposture; God gave me a
food, so that I escaped from imposture.
Be silent, be silent, speak no more in detail; I will speak of
the interpretation, I have escaped from the stench of garlic.*

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

Arberry's notes:
* This poem was composed when Rumi was sixty-two.
* "Blood was the food" -- in the womb.
* A play on "tafsir" (interpretation), and "taf-i sir" ("stench of
garlic," -- eaten by unbelieving Jews).

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

~

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[Sunlight] "Once again, once again I have escaped from my chains" -- Ghazal 1472

[Sunlight] "Does happiness reflect in your face?"

~

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

Does happiness reflect in your face
from the wine of the true religion?
Where is your generous hand
if you've beheld the Ocean of Abundance?
The one who sees the River doesn't grudge water to the thirsty,
especially the one who has beheld that Sea and those mighty Clouds.

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

Dar rokhet ku az may-e din farrokhi
gar be-didi Bahr ku kaff-e sakhi
Ânkeh Ju did âb-râ na-konad darigh
khâsseh ân ku did ân Daryâ o Migh

-- Mathnawi VI: 804-805
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

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

~

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[Sunlight] "Does happiness reflect in your face?"