Rumi and Hafiz Sufi Poet

Poetry and listening to poems is like a short vacation. An armchair journey for the heart and soul.

Wilson and I are going to be sharing some poems with you. Wilson is a poet. He has three of his own poems he will read first and then we are going to do consecutive Rumi poems. I hope you find it a relaxing, inspiring and entirely enjoyable experience.

Wilson, what have you brought to read tonight?

[WILSON].

Thank you Wilson.

Rumi Died at sunset on December 17, 1273. His tomb in Konya is still visited by thousands each month. It is said that representatives from all major religions attended his funeral. They saw Rumi and his poetry as a way of deepening their own faith. He is often called Mevlana, or Maulana meaning “master” or “lord.”

The heart of Rumi appears reflected in the hearts of his translators.
Unless you speak Farsi, you are only going to hear or read translations.
Of course, we too are always translating through the filters of our hearts.
Yet, even in this double translation, Rumi can give us a glimpse of the infinite Divine Light of Love. Perhaps that is because we are all bathed in the same Light. Rumi points it out and we all can hear, see and feel it.

Some Kiss We Want
There is some kiss we want with
Our whole lives, the touch of
Spirit on the body. Seawater
Begs the pearl to break its shell.
And the lily, how passionately
It needs some wild darling! At
Night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come and press its
Face against mine. Breathe into me.
Close the language-door and
Open the love-window. The moon
Won’t use the door, only the window.

WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE
Admit something:
Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.”
Of course you do not do this out loud,
otherwise someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this,
this great pull in us to connect.
Why not become the one who lives
with a full moon in each eye
that is always saying, with that sweet moon vision,
what every other eye in this world is dying to see? Hafiz
This is love:
to fly toward a secret sky,
to let go and just live.
to take a step without thought of feet.
Rumi

Passion makes the old medicine new:
Passion lops off the bough of weariness.
Passion is the elixir that renews:
how can there be weariness
when passion is present?
Oh, don't sigh heavily from fatigue:
seek passion, seek passion, seek passion!
Rumi

The real beloved is your beginning and your end.
When you find that one,
you'll no longer expect anything else:
Rumi

A house of love with no limits,
a presence more beautiful than venus or the moon,
a beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart.
Rumi
I yearn for happiness
I ask for help
I want mercy
Look at me and hear me
because I am here just for that
Rumi

Love is reckless; not reason.
Reason seeks a profit.
Having died of self-interest,
Love risks everything and asks for nothing.
Rumi

Late by myself, in the boat by myself
No light and no land anywhere
cloud cover thick, I try to stay
just above the surface, but I am already under
and living in the ocean of your love
Rumi

I am your moon
and your moonlight too
I am your flower garden
and Your water too
I have come all this way
eager for you
without shoes or shawl
I want you to laugh
to dispel all your worries
to love you
to nourish you
Oh sweet bitterness
I will soothe you and heal you
I will bring you roses
I too have been covered with thorns.
The springtime of Lovers has come,
that this dust bowl may become a garden;
the proclamation of heaven has come,
that the bird of the soul may rise in flight.
The sea becomes full of pearls,
the salt marsh becomes sweet as spring rain,
the stone becomes a diamond from the mine,
the body becomes wholly soul.
Rumi

In the orchard and rose garden
I see your face
In the taste of Sweetness
I feel your kiss
In the shadows of passion
I am embraced by your love
Rumi

I long to escape the prison of my ego
and lose myself in you

The Self We Share:
We move in eternal regions
Yet we worry about property here.
Let this be the prayer of each:
You are the source of my Life.
You bring rivers from the mountain springs,
You brighten my eyes
The wine you offer takes me out of myself
into the self we shares.
Doing that is religion.
Rumi

A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
Rumi

How long will you keep pounding on an open door
Begging for someone to open it
In Love no longer 'thou' and 'I' exist,
For Self has passed away in the Beloved.
Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours Are the hours I spend with You
Rabia

Remember any night of all of our nights
but don't remember things I've said.
Rumi

When I am with you we stay up all night
When you're not here, I cannot go to sleep
Thank God for these two insomnias
and the difference between them
Rumi

Does sunset sometimes look like the sun is coming up?
Do you know what a faithful love is like?
You are crying. You say you have burned yourself
but can you think of anyone who is not hazy with smoke?
Rumi

From the clear center of my heart
there are no edges to my loving you
I've heard it said there's a window that opens
from one mind to another
but if there were no wall,
what need of installing a window?
Rumi

Sweetheart you have aroused my passion
your touch has filled me with desire
I am no longer separate from you
These are precious moments
I beseech you, Don't let me wait
Let me merge with you.
Rumi

If today, like every other day
we wake up empty and frightened.
We don't have to open the door to the study
and begin reading.
We can take down a musical instrument.
Let beauty be what we do
there are hundreds of ways
to kneel and kiss the earth
Rumi

We have this way of talking,
and we have another.
beyond what we wish
and what we fear may happen
we have another life,
as clear and free as a mountain stream
Rumi

The Night Ocean
We are the night ocean filled
With glints of light. We are the space
Between the fish and the moon,
While we sit here together.

I do not cease swimming in the seas of love,
rising with the wave, then descending;
now the wave sustains me, and then I sink beneath it;
love bears me away where there is no longer any shore.
Hallaj

Those who don't feel this Love
pulling them like a river,
those who don't drink dawn
like a cup of spring water
or take in sunset like supper,
those who don't want to change,
let them sleep.
This Love is beyond the study of theology,
that old trickery and hypocrisy.
I you want to improve your mind that way,
sleep on.
I've given up on my brain.
I've torn the cloth to shreds
and thrown it away.
If you're not completely naked,
wrap your beautiful robe of words
around you,
and sleep.
Rumi

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell.
Don't go back to sleep
You must ask for what you really want
Don't go back to sleep
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds meet
The door is round and open
Don't go back to sleep

Benediction:
Dear God,
Let all Lovers be content
Give them happy endings
Let their lives be celebration
Let their hearts dance in the fire of your Love.
Rumi

Love is the Water of Life.
Rumi

Longing is the core of mystery
Longing itself brings the cure.
The only rule is, Suffer the pain.
Your desire must be disciplined,
And what you want to happen
In time, sacrificed.
Rumi

The Self We Share
We move in eternal regions
Yet we worry about property here.
Let this be the prayer of each:
You are the source of my Life.
You bring rivers from the mountain springs,
You brighten my eyes
The wine you offer takes me out of myself
into the self we shares.
Doing that is religion.

There is something in Us
Never think that you are worthless.
God has paid an enormous amount for you.
And the gifts just keep arriving.
There is something in us
That has nothing to do with night and day,
Diamonds which come from no earthly mine.

I bow to you for the dust of your feet
Is the crown on my head
And as I walk towards you
Every step I take is a blessing
His form appeared before me, just now as I was
Singing this poem
I swear
What a blessing! What a Blessing!

I have shrunk beyond the smallest atom,
Expanded further than the last star,
All that is left of Rumi is only
This garden, laughing with fruit.
The law of Wonder rules my life at last,
I burn each second of my life to love,
Each second of my life burns out, in love,
In each leaping second, love lives afresh.

There is only one way to win him this beloved of mine:
Become his.

There is Something in Us
Imagine a man selling his donkey
To be with Jesus.
Now imagine him selling Jesus
To get a ride on a donkey.
This does happen.
Jesus can transform a drunk into gold
If the drunk is already golden,
He can be changed into pure diamond.
If already that, he can become the circling
Planets, Jupiter, Venus, the moon.
Never think that you are worthless.
God has paid an enormous amount for you.
And the gifts keep arriving.
There is something in us
That has nothing to do with night and day,
[Diamonds which come from no earthly mine.]
Grapes that never saw a vineyard
We are all returning
Says the Qur’an. Enjoy Shams,
Or if you cannot do that, at least
Consider what honest people tell you.

Backpain
Muhammad went to visit a sick friend
Such kinds brings more kindness
And there is no knowing the proliferation from there.
The man was about to die.
Muhammad put his face close and kissed him.
Hi friend began to revive.
Muhammad’s visit re-created him.
He began to feel grateful for an illness
That brought such light.
And also for the backpain
That wakes him in the night.
No need to snore away like a buffalo
When this wonder is walking the world.
There are values in pain that are difficult
to see without the presence of a guest.
Don’t complain about autumn.
Walk with grief like a good friend
Listen to what he says.
Sometimes the cold and dark of a cave
Give the opening we most want.

Transcendental thoughts

Chinese: Chuang Tzu

Letting go of thoughts

The mind remains undetermined in the great Void.
Here the highest knowledge is unbounded.
That which gives things their thusness cannot be delimited by things.
So when we speak of 'limits', we remain confined to limited things.
The limit of the unlimited is called 'fullness.'
The limitlessness of the limited is called 'emptiness.'
Tao is the source of both.
But it is itself neither fullness nor emptiness.

John of the Cross

Stanzas Concerning An Ecstasy Experienced In High Contemplation

I entered into unknowing,
and there I remained unknowing
transcending all knowledge.

I entered into unknowing,
yet when I saw myself there,
without knowing where I was,
I understood great things;
I will not say what I felt
for I remained in unknowing
transcending all knowledge.

Ibn Arabi

Turmoil in your hearts

Were it not for
the excess of your talking
and the turmoil in your hearts,
you would see what I see
and hear what I hear!

And,

My creed is Love;
Wherever its caravan turns along the way,
That is my belief,
My faith.

I do not cease swimming in the seas of love,
rising with the wave, then descending;
now the wave sustains me, and then I sink beneath it;
love bears me away where there is no longer any shore.
(Diwan al-Hallaj, M. 34)

Rabia
Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours
Are the hours I spend with You – Hafiz

And,

How long will you keep pounding on an open door
Begging for someone to open it?
Attar
In Love no longer 'thou' and 'I' exist,
For Self has passed away in the Beloved.

Rumi
Love is the Water of Life.
A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
A house of love with no limits,
a presence more beautiful than venus or the moon,
a beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart.

This is love:
to fly toward a secret sky,
to let go and just live.
to take a step without thought of feet.

Love is reckless; not reason.
Reason seeks a profit.
Having died of self-interest,
Love risks everything and asks for nothing.

The real beloved is your beginning and your end.
When you find that one,
you'll no longer expect anything else:

The springtime of Lovers has come,
that this dust bowl may become a garden;
the proclamation of heaven has come,
that the bird of the soul may rise in flight.
The sea becomes full of pearls,
the salt marsh becomes sweet as kauthar,
the stone becomes a diamond from the mine,
the body becomes wholly soul.

Me:
I have climbed three mountains
more than once
and the most interesting things happened
when I left the trail and walked through the pure wild

There are many paths up the mountain. Some of them are well worn trails.
Others are not. Even so as with any journey
you can consult a tour book and devise a plan
or you can jump into the unknown and see what comes.
Both methods work, but with the second you may end up in a place you could never have planned to be.

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