"Dear one, come to the tavern of ruin"

~

Here, Sunlight offers Ghazal 2309, from the Diwan-e Shams, in a
version by Version by Helminski, with Godlas and Saedian, and in a
poetic translation by the Iranian architect Nader Khalili:

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The Drunkards and the Tavern

I'm drunk and you're insane, who's going to take us home?
How many times did they say,
"Drink just a little, only two or three at most?"

In this city no one I see is conscious;
one is worse off than the next, frenzied and insane.

Dear one, come to the tavern of ruin
and experience the pleasures of the soul.
What happiness can there be apart
from this intimate conversation
with the Beloved, the Soul of souls?

In every corner there are drunkards, arm in arm,
while the Server pours the wine
from a royal decanter to every particle of being.

You belong to the tavern: your income is wine,
and wine is all you ever buy.
Don't give even a second away
to the concerns of the merely sober.

O lute player, are you more drunk, or am I?
In the presence of one as drunk as you, my magic is a myth.

When I went outside the house,
some drunk approached me,
and in his eyes I saw
hundreds of hidden gardens and sanctuaries.

Like a ship without an anchor,
he rocked this way and that.
Hundreds of intellectuaIs and wise men
could die from a taste of his yearning.

I asked, "Where are you from?"
He laughed and said, "O soul,
half of me is from Turkestan and half from Farghana.

Half of me is water and mud, half heart and soul;
half of me is the ocean' s shore, half is all pearl."

"Be my friend," I pleaded, 'I'm one of your family."
"I know the difference between farnily and outsiders."

I've neither a heart nor a turban,
and here in this house of hangovers
my breast is filled with unspoken words.
Shall I try to explain or not?

Have I lived among the lame for so long
that I've begun to limp myself?
And yet no slap of pain could disturb
a drunkenness like this.

Listen, can you hear a wail
arising from the pillar of grief?
Shams al-Haqq of Tabriz, where are you now,
after all the mischief you've stirred in our hearts?

-- Version by K. Helminski, A. Godlas, and L. Saedian
"The Rumi Collection"
Threshold Books, 1998

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you are drunk
and i'm intoxicated
no one is around
showing us the way home

again and again
i told you
drink less
a cup or two

i know in this city
no one is sober
one is worse than the other
one is frenzied and
the other gone mad

come on my friend
step into the tavern of ruins
taste the sweetness of life
in the company of another friend

here you'll see
at every corner
someone intoxicated
and the cup-bearer
makes her rounds

i went out of my house
a drunkard came to me
someone whose glance
uncovered a hundred
houses in paradise

rocking and rolling
he was a sail
with no anchor but
he was the envy of all those sober ones
remaining on the shore

where are you from i asked
he smiled in mockery and said
one half from the east
one half from the west
one half made of water and earth
one half made of heart and soul
one half staying at the shores and
one half nesting in a pearl

i begged
take me as your friend
i am your next of kin
he said i recognize no kin
among strangers
i left my belongings and
entered this tavern
i only have a chest
full of words
but can't utter
a single one

-- Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire", 1991
Cal-Earth Press, 1994

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~

"Dear one, come to the tavern of ruin"

"Don't sow bad seed"

~

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God is forever making hidden things manifest:
since they grow up, don't sow bad seed.
Rain and clouds and fire and this sun are forever
bringing up hidden things from within the earth.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Râz-hâ-râ mi konad Haqq âshkâr
chon be-khvâhad rost tokhm-e bad ma-kâr
Âb o abr o âtesh o in âftâb
râz-hâ-râ mi bar ârad az torâb

-- Mathnawi, V:3969-3970
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

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~

"Don't sow bad seed"

"The Staff of Moses"

~

Here, Sunlight offers two contrasting versions of Ghazal 1603:

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"The Staff of Moses"

I am in your garden
beneath a tree that grants every wish.
I am so full of fire
that I dance without music.

I am a shadow
forever dancing with the sunlight –
At times I lie on the ground,
At times I stand on my head.
At times I am short,
At times I am long.

Like the movement of dark and light
across the earth,
I move across the ages.
I am the Ruler of the Egyptians
and the Guide of the Jews.
Among men of letters
I am the law of truth -
At times I am like a pen,
At times like the staff of Moses,
At times like a cobra
slithering its way through the sand.

Don't try to find love
By leaning on the cane of the intellect;
that cane is nothing
but a blind man's stick.
One sign from you is all I want;
One "yes" from you
and my soul will be free.

I am not from this place.
I am a stranger here,
Walking blindly,
Hoping you will come and show me
where to take my next step.

-- Version by Jonathan Star
"A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
Bantam Books, 1992

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Walkingstick Dragon

I want to dance here in this music,
not in spirit where there is no time.

I circle the sun like shadow. My
head becomes my feet. Covered with

existence, Pharaoh; annihilated, I
am Moses. A pen between
God-fingers,

a walkingstick dragon,my blind mind
taps along its cane of thought. Love

does no thinking. It waits with soul,
with me, weeping in this corner. We're

strangers here where we never hear
yes. We must be from some other town.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"The Soul of Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 2001

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~

"The Staff of Moses"

Visions and Reality

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When a person sees a reflection of apples in the river,
and the sight of them fills her skirt with real apples,
how should that which she saw in the river be a fantasy,
when a hundred sacks have been filled by her vision?
Don't pay attention to the body, and don't act
like those deaf and dumb ones*
who disbelieved in the Truth when it came to them.

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

Chon darin ju did `aks-e sib mard
Dâmanesh-râ did ân por sib kard
ncheh dar ju did kay bâshad khayâl
chonkeh shod az didanesh por sad jovâl
Tan ma-bin va ân ma-kon k-ân bukm o summ*
kadhdhabû bi-al-Haqqi lammâ jâ'ahum

-- Mathnawi VI:3194-3196
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

*al-Baqarah, 171

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Visions and Reality

Flee to the grace of God

Today, Sunlight offers Molana Rumi's Ghazal (Ode) 2894, in a
version by Coleman Barks, and in the translation by A.J. Arberry,
upon which Barks based his interpretive version:

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It's a habit of yours to walk slowly.
You hold a grudge for years.
With such heaviness, how can you be modest?
With such attachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere?

Be wide as the air to learn a secret.
Right now you're equal portions
clay and water, thick mud.

Abraham learned how the sun
and the moon and the stars all set.
He said, No longer will I try to assign partners for God.

You are so weak. Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave till it gets to shore.
You're trying to live your life in open scaffolding.
Say Bismillah, In the name of God,
as the priest does with a knife
when he offers an animal.
"Bismillah" your old self to find your real name.

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

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

With such a gait, when will you reach the station? With such
a habit, how will you gain the goal?
You are very heavy of soul and camel-hearted; when will you
arrive among the nimble-spirited?*
With such grossness how will you be modest? with such a
joining [attachment for the world], how will you reach the one
who enjoys the union?
Since there is no broadness in the mind, how will you achieve
the society of the difficult secret?*
You are like water left in this clay; so how will you attain the
pure water and clay?
Disregard the sun and moon like Abraham, else how will you
attain the perfect sun?*
Since you are weak, go, flee to the grace of God, for without
the Gracious how will you attain the excellence?
Without the tender care of that sea of loving kindness, how
will you reach the shore of such a wave?
Without the Boraq* of love and the labor of Gabriel how will
you like Mohammad attain all the stages?
You take shelter in those who are without shelter; how will
you attain the shelter of the welcoming king?
Before besmellah sacrifice yourself utterly; else, when you lie
dead, how will you attain the Name of God?*

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

* "Camel-hearted" is a cowardly person or someone who holds a grudge
long in his heart.
* Arberry had: "Since there is no opening in your head..."
* Qur'an 6: 76-7: "When the night covered him [Abraham], he saw a
star; he said: 'This is my Lord.' But when it set, he said, 'Unless
my Lord guides me, I shall surely be among those who go astray.' When
he saw the sun rising in splendor, he said: 'This is my Lord, who is
the greatest of all.' But when the sun set, he said: 'O my people! I
am now free from your guilt of giving partners to God."
* Boraq is the legendary steed of Mohammad which carried him to his
ascension.
* Besmellah al-rahman al-rahim (in the name of God, most gracious,
most merciful) is repeated in the beginning of every chapter of the
Qur'an. Also it is mentioned when a bird or animal is slaughtered.

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Flee to the grace of God