"I'd give my life for a sign of that Joseph"

~

Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 2779, in a version by Coleman Barks,
and in the translation by A.J. Arberry, upon which Barks based his
version:

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Has anyone seen the boy who used to come here?
Round-faced troublemaker, quick to find a joke, slow
to be serious. Red shirt,
perfect coordination, sly,
strong muscles, with things always in this pocket: reed flute,
ivory pick, polished and ready for his talent.
You know that one.

Have you heard stories about him?
Pharaoh and the whole Egyptian world
collapsed for such a Joseph.
I'd gladly spend years getting word
of him, even third or fourth-hand.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"The Essential Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

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

Proclaim, O crier, at the head of every market, "Have you
seen, Muslims, a runaway slave?"
"A slave moonfaced, musk-scented, a troublemaker--swift of
pace in time of coquetry, in time of peace slow.
"A boy, ruby-robed, charming of countenance, sugar-sweet,
cypress-stature, saucy-eyed,acute, perfectly poised;
"In his bosom a rebec, in his hand a plucker; he plays a sweet
air, charming, well-seated.
"Does anyone have a fruit of the garden of his beauty? Or a
bunch of roses to smell from the rose bed of his loveliness?
"A Joseph by whose price the king of Egypt was bankrupted,
on every side heart-wounded ones like Jacob by his glance.
"I will give freely my sweet life as lawful to whomever brings
me a sign of him, or even a veiled hint."

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

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2qcv6f

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~

"I'd give my life for a sign of that Joseph"

“Every day is Friday”

~

Today, Sunlight offers Ghazal (Ode) 2322 in an unusual
combination of presentations -- a version by Coleman Barks, based on
a second generation translation by Nevit Ergin (who translates from
Turkish into English); another version by Barks, working from a
translation by John Moyne (a native Persian speaker); and, lastly, a
translation by A.J. Arberry:

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"Friday"

For a dervish every day feels like
Friday, the beginning of a holiday,

a fresh setting out that will not have an
end. Dressed in the soul's handsomeness,

you're a whole month of Fridays, sweet
outside, sweet in. Your mind and your deep

being walk together as friends walk along
inside their friendship. Debris does not stay

in one place on a fast-running creek. Let
grudges wash out into the sea. Your soul's

eye watches a spring-green branch moving,
while these other eyes love the old stories.

-- Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Every day is Friday,
the beginning of the holidays, holy days.

Isn't last Friday remembered now with a festival?
You have on the right clothes for this festival,
your light, your clear trusting,
your inside and outside the same,
not a sweet walnut filled with garlic.

Go around in this ring
like a lover on the doorstep of a lover.
How can straw be still on a river?
How can a mystic stay angry?

To some eyes these words are a new-green branch.
To sensual eyes, they are old matters
carved on a building.

-- Version by Coleman Barks, from a translation
by John Moyne
"These Branching Moments"
Copper Beech Press, 1988

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Every day is a festival and Friday for the poor; has not yester-
day's Friday become an ancient festival?*
O soul, robed in festive garb like the festival moon, made of
the light of the beauty of yourself, not of woollen frock;
Like reason and faith sweet outside and inside, not garlic
stuffed in the heart of a walnut-sweet.
Put on such a frock and go about in this ring, like the heart
clear and bright in the vestibule of the heart.
On a running river, O soul, how shall a straw stand still? How
can rancor make its dwelling in the soul and spirit?
In the eye of sanctity these words are a branch new and fresh;
in the eye of sensual perception, they are like an ancient legend.

-- Translation by A.J. Arberry
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2"
University of Chicago Press, 1979

* Aflaki gives the following account of the composition of this
gazal: "A darvish asked Mowlana: 'Who is a mystic?' He said 'A mystic
is a person whose calm disposition is never disturbed by any
annoyance. The mystic never becomes angry.' " Manaqeb, 279

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/ynsn6r

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“Every day is Friday”

How can you be silent?”

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

These sayings of mine are really a call to God,
words to lure the breath of that sweet One.
How can you be silent? How can you fail to call,
knowing He always answers, "Here I am—"
that silent answer you feel from head to toe.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

in sokhan-hâ khvod be-ma`nâ yâ Rabbist
harf-hâ dâm dar shirin-e labist
Chon konad taqsir pas chon tan zanad
chon labbaykesh be-yâ Rabb mi rasad
Hast labbayki keh na-tavâni shanid
layk sar tâ pây be-tavâni chashid

-- Mathnawi II:1189-1191
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/ytd26p

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How can you be silent?”

"Oh formless Heart-ravisher!"

~

Here, Sunlight offers Ghazal 2331, in translations by Professors
Chittick and Arberry, followed by a link to a mixed media
presentation:

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Oh formless Heart-ravisher! Oh unformed Form-maker!
Oh Thou who hast given a goblet full of uproar to the lovers!

Thou hast shut my mouth lest I voice the mysteries, and
in the breast Thou hast opened the door I cannot name.

As soon as Thy Beauty threw off its veil in secret, my heart
fell to the saki and my head to the wine.

It was morning, and Thy Image went mounted on its steed.
Holy spirits, innumerable as sand, went on foot.

And those who are famous for their glorification of Thee in
heaven broke their rosaries and pawned their prayer carpets.

The spirit cannot bear to see Thy Face unveiled, and Thy
Beauty is greater than whatever I say.

My spirit is a drunken camel following behind Thee, my
body a collar around the camel's neck.

Shams of God Tabrizi! My heart is pregnant from Thee!
When will I see the child born of Thy auspiciousness!

-- Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

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

O formless Beloved of the pure form-fashioner, O you who
have given the cup full of tumult to the lovers,

You have closed your mouth against uttering secrets, and
opened in the heart the door which I do not mention.

Since your beauty secretly cast off the veil, heart has gone
after saki and hand after wine.

In the morning when your image drove forth riding, holy
spirits, as numberless as the sand, followed on foot;

And those who are famous in heaven for their adoration broke
their rosaries and pawned their prayer rugs.

They cannot endure to gaze on your face unveiled; your beauty
exceeds all that I say.

My soul runs after you like a raging camel; my body is a
collar
bound upon the neck of that camel.

Shams-al Haqq Tabriz, my heart is pregnant by you; when
shall I see a child born under your auspices?

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

The media:

http://tinyurl.com/ys29t7

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~

"Oh formless Heart-ravisher!"

"But if you are happy"

~

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

When you whirl, your eye sees the room whirling, too.
If you sail in a ship over the sea,
it seems the seashore is running past.
If your heart is oppressed with struggle,
the whole atmosphere of the world feels tight;
but if you are happy as your friends would wish,
this world seems to be a garden of roses.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gar to bar-gardi va bar-gardad saret
khâneh-râ gardandeh binad manzaret
Var to dar kashti ravi bar yamm ravân
sâhel-e yamm-râ hami bini davân
Gar to bâshi tang-del az malhameh
tang bini jawv-e donyâ-râ hameh
Var to bâshi be-kâm-e dustân
in jahân be-namâyadet chon golestân

-- Mathnawi IV: 2369-2373
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2fdd3u

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~

"But if you are happy"