William Chittick, "77 whole ghazals from Rumi's Divan, translated in English". Part 2/2
Part 2. To Part 1: http://hojja-nusreddin.livejournal.com/2964208.html
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41. F-1553: p. 340-341
1*
Let us choose one another as companions!
Let us sit at each other's feet!
2
Oh friends, sit a little closer,
So, that we may see each other's faces!
3
Inwardly we have many harmonies;
Think not that we are only what you see.
4
Now that we are sitting together, our hands
Hold the wine and our sleeves are full of roses.
5
We have a way from this visible world to the Unseen,
For we are the companions of religion's messenger.
6
We have a way from the house to the garden,
We are the neighbor of cypress and jasmine.
7
Every day we come to the garden
And see a hundred blossoms.
8
In order to scatter them among the lovers,
We fill our skirts to overflowing.
9
Whatever we gather from the garden,
We put down, and then we pick out the best.
10
Steal not your hearts away from us,
We are no thief, we are trustworthy.
11
Behold our words! They are the fragrance of those roses,
We are the rosebush of certainty's rosegarden.
12
The world is filled with the fragrance of those roses.
They say: "Come! For we are like this!"
13
When we caught their scent, they took us away,
They make us great, though we be small.
14
We may be Love's least slave,
But, like Love, we wait in ambush.
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* As the successor to the Prophet, the shaykh is God's messenger on earth. The ghazals, that discuss the shaykh's spiritual station
and the mysteries of his union with God, are particularly powerful when sung in the first person.
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42. F-1601: p. 180-181
1
Once again, we have left our heart, intellect, and spirit behind;
The Friend has come into the midst and we have disappeared.
2
We have turned back from annihilation and become woven into subsistence;
We have found the Traceless and thrown away all traces.
3
Stirring up dust from the ocean and smoke from the nine spheres,
We have discarded Time, the earth, and the heavens.
4
Beware, the drunkards have come! Clear the way! No, I said that wrong,
For we have been delivered from the way and the travelers.
5
The spirit's fire has lifted its head from the body's earth;
The heart began to shout, and like a shout, we rose up.
6
Let us speak less, for if we speak, few understand.
Pour more wine, for we have entered the ranks of the self-deniers!
7
Existence is for women, the work of men is nonexistence.
Thanks be to God, for we have risen as champions in nonexistence!
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43. F-1647: p. 327
1
It is a day of joy. Come, let us all be friends!
Let us take each other by the hand and go to the Beloved.
2
When we become stupefied in Him and are all one color,
Let us keep going, dancing, toward the bazaar.
3
It is a day for all the beauties to dance,
Let us close down our shops and all be idle.
4
It is a day for the spirits to wear robes of honor,
Let us go as God's guests to the mysteries.
5
It is a day, when idols are setting up tents in the garden,
Let us go to the rosegarden and gaze upon them!
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44. F-1648: p. 321-322
1
Oh Saki, we have raised a commotion and gone to war!
Pour that rose-colored wine, so that all may become one color!
2
In the two worlds, Thy Form manifests the Gentleness, which God gave to drink.
Show Thy wine-colored Face, so that all may be stupefied!
3
When we become wine in attribute, wine will be abolished!
When we become totally hashish, hashish will be overthrown!
4
Look! Thought and heartache have taken a home next door to us.
Give wine, so that we may move two leagues away!
5
Oh minstrel, for God's sake, play a song of drunkenness,
So that thy song may tune us like a harp.
6
It is the banquet of the Emperor of Rum, so polish our hearts,
That we may become rustless, like the mirror of the spirit!
7
A whole world is heart-constricted, but we are so expansive in joy,
That just for once, we desire to be heart-constricted!
8
Who has ever seen such an enemy of intellect?
By mixing with it, we become all intellect, knowledge, and art!
9
When Shams-i Tabrizi shows his face in the garden of purity,
Let us all quickly grasp him by the neck of his love.
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45. F-1671: p. 156
1
Whether we speak of joy or heartache,
Let us sit as a congregation and speak together.
2
Should our companion travel far, we will do the same;
Should he move less, so will we.
3
Let us and our companions have the same heart and breath,
And attack Rustam's battle lines like fire!
4
Though we be men, traveling alone,
We will achieve only lamentation and mourning, like women.
5
If we go on the hajj without companions,
We will surely not reach the Kaaba.
6
We are the strings of a harp,
As parts of it, let us sing high and low!
7
We were all in Adam's congregation,
Let us return together to Adam!
8
Our point is hidden; Adam is but an expedient:
Let us pitch our tents on the shore of the Greatest Ocean!
9
When the Solomon of Subsistence comes to His Throne,
We will kiss His signet ring a hundred thousand times.
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46. F-1695: p. 342
1
Before such spirit-bestowing Beauty, how should I not die?
How should I not go mad and seize hold of Thy chain-like tresses?
2
When I drink Thy wine, how should I not be obliterated?
Thou art wine and I am water, Thou art honey and I am milk.
3
Open Thy mouth, that infinite candy;
If Thou acceptest not my excuses, well, I accept Thy blandishments!
4
Dost Thou know why I laugh? Because of my own high aspiration
In the city of Thy Love, I am the prince of lovers!
5
I and eternal Love were born into the world from a single womb,
Though I appear as a new lover, by God, I am exceedingly ancient!
6
If you open your own eye, you will be fitting only for yourself.
But if you find this vision, you will know that I am peerless.
7
Like Men, I fire up the stove of all those who are cold;
And within the stove of warm spirits, my dough is cooked to the greatest perfection!
8
In my gentleness, I am like milk, I never become caught in the throat.
Make no mistakes, though I be salty like cheese!
9
In my love for Shams of Tabriz, I am a sultan, wearing a crown,
But when he comes to the throne, I am his vizier.
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47. F-1705 (AA 213): p. 309-310 $
1
Become not bored with me, for I am a truly beautiful
Witness! Jealousy has hidden me in a chador.
2
On the day, when I throw the chador off the body of the spirit,
You will see, that I am the envy of the moon and the stars.
3
Wash your face and purify yourself, so that you may see me!
Otherwise stay far away, for I am my own witness!
4
I am not that witness, who will become an old crone tomorrow.
I will be young, heart-refreshing, and beautifully statured, until Eternity-without-end.
5
Even if that chador should wear out, the witness will not become old;
The chador's life will come to an end, but we are endless life.
6
When Iblis saw Adam's chador, he rejected him.
Adam called to him: "You are rejected, not I".
7
The rest of the angels prostrated themselves
And said: "We have found a witness!
8
Under the chador is an idol, whose attributes have confounded
Our intellects, so we have prostrated ourselves!
9
If our intellects cannot discern the shapes of stinking hags
From those of witnesses, then we are apostates in Love.
10
What place is this for 'Witnesses'? He is God's lion,
We spoke like children, for we are speaking to children just learning the alphabet.
11
Children are deceived by walnuts and raisins, otherwise,
What have we to do with almonds and sesame seeds?
12
If an old crone should hide herself in helmet and armor,
And say: 'I am Rustam in God's battle lines',
13
Everyone will know from her movements, that she is a woman.
How should we make mistakes? We are bathed in Muhammad's light!"
14
The Prophet said: "The believer is discerning".
Now be silent! For without speech, I am rightly guided.
15
Listen to the rest from Shams, the pride of Tabriz,
For we have related but part of the story from that king.
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48. F-1716: p. 320
1
Tonight, take my spirit totally from my body, so that I
May no longer have shape and name in the world!
2
At this moment I am drunk in Thee, give me another cup!
Then I may be obliterated from the two worlds in Thee, and be done with it.
3
When I have been annihilated through Thee and become what Thou knowest,
then I will take the cup of nonexistence and drink it, cup after cup.
4
When the spirit becomes radiant through Thee,
When the candle lights upif not consumed by Thee it is raw, raw.
5
Give me now the wine of nonexistence instant by instant;
When I have entered nonexistence, I will not know the house from its roof.
6
When your nonexistence increases, the spirit will prostrate itself to you a hundred times,
Oh you, to whose nonexistence thousands of existences are slave!
7
Give me wine, measure by measure! Deliver me from my own existence!
Wine is Thy special grace, intellect is Thy general grace.
8
Send up waves from nonexistence to steal me away!
How long will I pace the Ocean's shore in fear?
9
The snare of my king Shams al-Din is catching prey in Tabriz,
But I have no fear of the snare, for I am within it.
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49. F-1723: p. 345
1
I have not abandoned your work. I am always busy with it;
At each moment you become dearer to me.
2
By my own pure essence and the sun of my empire,
I will not let you go, I will lift you up in gentleness.
3
I will illuminate your face with my own radiance and
Scratch your head with the ten fingers of forgiveness!
4
A thousand clouds of grace have filled the sky of God's good pleasure,
If I should allow their rain to fall, I will let it fall upon your head.
5
I have girded the loins of my gentleness to comfort you,
For you have seen the blessings of my comfort and union.
6
A thousand healing potions boiled up in Love
On that night, when you said to me: "I am ill".
7
Come forward, so that I may apply a new collyrium to your eyes,
Perhaps they will become bright enough to comprehend my mysteries.
8
How should I hold back my gentleness from the elect of my own elect?
For in the perfection of my generosity, I extend a helping hand* to others as well.
9
I have seized you as a thief and turned you over to the guards,
For the goblet of my treasury was found in your saddlebag**.
10
You are bewildered at my severity and have no chance to speak,
Though I am mightily severe, a thousand gentlenesses are hidden in my severity.
11
Did not Benjamin find his Joseph through that blow?
Perceive only gentleness in all my acts!
12
Joseph took him apart and explained what had happened:
"I would not inflict the pain of heartache without reason".
13
I will be silent, so that you may be alone,
But never think badly of me, oh my captive!
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* As a technical term in Sufism, "to extend a helping hand" (dastgir budan) means "to initiate" or "to receive the oath of allegiance".
The Prophet received an oath of allegiance from many of his Companions at Hudaybiyyah, near Mecca in the year 6 A.H., an event alluded to in the Koran:
"God was well pleased with the believers, when they were swearing allegiance to thee under the tree" (48:18).
This act became the prototype for the ceremony of initiation into Sufism, during which the shaykh takes the disciple's hand in his own and recites among other things the following verse:
"Those, who swear allegiance to thee, swear allegiance in truth to God; God's hand is over their hands". (Koran 48:10).
** Rumi compares his harsh treatment of a disciple to the stratagem, employed by Joseph to keep Benjamin with himself (Koran 12:70 ff.; Gen. 44:1 ff).
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50. F-1739 (AA 217): p. 157-158
1
What hidden sweetness is found in this empty stomach!
Man is like a lute, neither more nor less.
2
When the lute's stomach is full,
It cannot lament, whether high or low.
3
If your brain and stomach burn from fasting,
Their fire will draw constant lamentation from your breast.
4
Through that fire you will burn a thousand veils at every instant,
You will ascend a thousand degrees on the Way and in your aspiration.
5
Keep your stomach empty! Lament like a flute and tell your need to God!
Keep your stomach empty and speak of the mysteries like a reed!
6
If you keep your stomach full, it will bring Satan to you at the Resurrection,
Instead of your intellect, an idol, instead of the Kaaba.
7
When you fast, good character traits gather round you,
Like servants, slaves, and retinue.
8
Continue your fasting, for it is Solomon's seal:
Give not the seal to the devil, disrupt not your kingdom.
9
And if your kingdom and army should flee from you,
Your army will return, so raise the banner!
10
The Spread Table has come from heaven to those, who fast,
For Jesus, son of Mary, has called it down with his prayers*.
11
Await the Table of Generosity in your fast,
The Table of Generosity is better than cabbage stew!
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* Chapter 5 of the Koran is named after the "spread table" referred to in these verses:
"And when the Apostles said: 'Oh Jesus, son of Mary,
Is thy Lord able to send down on us a Spread Table out of heaven?...
Said Jesus, son of Mary: 'Oh God, our Lord,
Send down upon us a Spread Table out of heaven, that shall be for us a festival...
And provide for us; Thou art the best of providers'." (Koran 5:112, 114).
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51. F-1747: p. 348-349
1
Though the eye of intellect and competence see me as mad,
I have many arts in the circle of lovers.
2
Love has made me Solomon and my tongue Asaf;
How should I be tied to all these remedies and incantations?
3
Like Abraham, I never turn away from the Kaaba;
I reside in the Kaaba, I am its pillar*.
4
A thousand Rustams cannot approach me,
Why should I be subject to the effeminate ego?
5
I take the bloody sword in hand,
I am a martyr to Love in the midst of my own blood.
6
In this plain, I am the All-Merciful's nightingale.
Seek not for my limit and border. I have no limits.
7
Shams-i Tabrizi has nurtured me through love,
I am greater than the Holy Spirit and the Cherubim.
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* According to the traditions, Abraham built the Kaaba and resided there for some time.
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52. F-1767: p. 343
1
How do you know what birds we are or
What we recite every moment beneath our breath?
2
How can anyone bring us to hand?
We are sometimes the treasure, sometimes the ruins!
3
The heavens revolve for our sake,
That is why we keep on turning like a wheel.
4
How should we remain in this house?
In this house we are all guests.
5
Although in form we are beggars in the lane, behold our attributes!
Then you will know what sort of sultan we are!
6
Since tomorrow we will be king in all of Egypt,
Why should we grieve, if today we are imprisoned?
7
As long as we have been in this form,
No one has troubled us, nor have we troubled anyone.
8
When Shams-i Tabrizi becomes our guest,
We are multiplied hundreds of millions of times!
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53. F-1869 (AA 231): p. 219-220
1
Off with you! Know that the lover's religion is contrary to other ways,
For false dealings from the Friend are better, than sincerity and kindliness.
2
What is unthinkable for Him, is the actual state, His chastisement is the reward,
All of His tyranny is justice, His slander is equity.
3
His harshness is soft, His synagogue is the Kaaba;
The thorn, driven home by the Heart-ravisher, is sweeter than roses and basil.
4
When He is sour, He is more excellent than a house of sugar;
When He comes to you in annoyance, He is all affection and kisses.
5
When He says to you: "By God, I am sick of you!",
That is Khidr's elixir from the Fountain of Life.
6
When He says "No!" a thousand "Yea's" are hidden within it;
In this religion of the selfless, He becomes family and self by remaining a stranger.
7
His unbelief is faith, His stones all coral,
His miserliness is generosity, His offenses all forgiveness.
8
If you taunt me and say: "Your religion is bent out of shape!",
Well, I have bought the religion of His bent eyebrow for the price of my spirit.
9
This bent religion has made me drunk! Enough! I will shut my lips,
You continue, oh illuminated heart, and recite the rest silently!
10
Oh Lord! Oh Shams of God Tabrizi! What sugar you pour down!
You voice a hundred arguments and proofs from my mouth!*
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* Beit 10b: "You voice... from my mouth"
Arberry # 231: "You might say that out of my mouth proceed" (gui zi dihan-e man).
Although "gui" sometimes carries the sense of "you might say", here it does not.
The fact, that Arberry had to add the verb "proceed'', is sufficient indication that "gui" has to be taken in its literal sense.
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54. F-1911: p. 337-338
1
Oh seeker on the path of religion, let me give you a piece of advice,
Heart-pleasing, well-measured advice.
2
Sit not in heedlessness with the greedy,
For mangy spirits will make your spirit mangy.
3
If your heart becomes purified of itching,
It will find the sweetness of the fig (Koran 95:1).
4
Oh impotent man, when you become a man of God,
Brides will boil up from within your heart.
5
Like the moon, Venus, the sun and the Pleiades,
Peris will show their faces within the well of your eyes.
6
Drink down what we say, for these are Love's instructions.
Instructions will not profit you much in the grave.
7
Display your charity, by giving the yellow gold of your heartache to these beautiful brides,
Then ugly women will not deceive you with their praise.
8
These beautiful maidens only want someone, who can discern their beauty;
You cannot deceive them with a dowry.
9
These rose-faced beauties will be ashamed of you,
If you sell your true nature for dung.
10
Of the two millstones, the lower carries the weight.
Is not the lower worth more than the upper?
11
The more valuable building block
Has suffered more blows from the chisel.
12
Sinai is excellent among mountains,
Because it was crushed by God's theophany (Koran 7:143).
13
Silent! Be patient! Where is your constancy?
But when did Love ever leave anyone constancy?
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55. F-1931: p. 230
1
Intellect ate some opium from Love's hand:
Now watch out for intellect's madness!
2
Today both mad Love and
Rational intellect are mad.
3
The Oxus, which had begun to flow because of love for the Sea,
Has become the Sea, the Oxus has been obliterated.
4
When it reached Love, it saw an ocean of blood,
Intellect sat in the blood's midst.
5
The waves of blood crashed down upon its head and
Took it away from all six directions toward the Directionless,
6
Until it lost itself completely and became
Nimble and well proportioned in Love.
7
While lost, it reached a place,
Where the earth and the heavens did not exist.
8
When it wanted to go forward, it had no feet,
But if it had sat, it would have suffered great loss.
9
Suddenly it saw from the other side of both
Obliteration and the universe an Ineffable Light,
10
One banner and a hundred thousand spears.
It became enthralled by that Gentle Light:
11
Its feet had been stuck, but began to move;
Forward it went in that incredible plain,
12
Hoping to pass Yonder and
Be delivered from self and everything below.
13
Two valleys appeared upon its path,
One full of fire and the other roses.
14
A call came: "Go into the fire and
Find yourself in the rosegarden of ease!
15
But if you enter the rosery,
You will find yourself in fire and furnace.
16
Either fly to the heavens like Jesus,
Or fall to the depths like Korah*!"
17
Flee and seek the sanctuary of the spirit's king,
So that you may escape every snare,
18
That Sun of Religion and Pride of Tabriz
Greater, than any attribute you give him!
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* Korah, one of Moses' people, is said, to have been the richest man alive. According to the Koran, he was swallowed up by the earth for his sins and arrogance.
(Koran 28:81 and other passages).
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56. F-1945: p. 282-283
1
Whatever gladdens the mind is the scent of my Beloved,
Whatever enraptures the heart is a ray from my Friend.
2
Why are the earth and its creatures in such ferment?
My Saki spilled a drop upon the ground.
3
If you see someone frozen and withered, he is in love with his own affairs,
Look not at your own affairs, look at mine!
4
At the time of spring all the earth's secrets become manifest;
When my spring comes, all my spiritual mysteries blossom forth.
5
The earth's rosegarden hides the thorns of the earth;
When my rosery springs up, it takes away all my thorny agitation.
6
Autumn makes a man sick, so he drinks a draught of spring;
When my spring laughs, my sick man leaps to his feet.
7
What is this wind of autumn? The breath of your denial.
What is this wind of spring? The breath of my acknowledgement.
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57. F-2056: p. 334-335
1
Oh sir, you are mistaken in the ways of my Friend.
You and a hundred, like you, are bewildered by me and my business*.
2
Every neck is not worthy for Love's sword.
How should my blood-drinking Lion swallow down the blood of dogs?
3
How should my Ocean support the planks of every ship?
How should your salt-flat drink from my Clouds raining down pearls?
4
Do not nod your head like that, do not shake your snout.
How should an ass, like you, reach the oats in my Warehouse?
5
Oh sir, come to yourself for a moment! Open your eyes a little,
Even though you are not equal to anything I say.
6
The man says: "Why does the lover become drunk and shameless?"
When did wine ever leave shame, especially when poured by my Saki?
7
He, who is deceived by a wolf, learns the same deception and depravity,
My artful Hunter makes him the snare of his own self.
8
How should they want to buy the ancient wolf in His bazaar?
In my bazaar a living Joseph is displayed in every corner.
9
How should an owl, like you, be fit for the Garden of Iram?
Not even the spirits nightingale has found its way to my Rosery!
10
Pride of Tabriz! Sun of God and the religion! Tell me:
Are not all these words of mine thy voice?
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* Whether in the "Mathnawi" or the "Diwan", Rumi constantly reminds the reader of his true self.
Although he emphasizes the promises given by God's Gentleness, he does not neglect the threats of His Wrath and Severity.
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58. F-2073: p. 336
1
Oh heart, place no honey in the mouth of the ill!
Speak not of entrancing eyes in the assembly of the blind!
2
Although God is nearer to His servant, than his jugular vein (Koran L 16),
He is far from those, who are far from Him.
3
Occupy yourself with your own inward self! Then, like moons,
The concealed maidens will come out in theophany from behind their veils!
4
Although in this work you will be lost to yourself and the world,
Outside of yourself and the world you will be famous.
5
If you are the moon of union, give a sign of your union!
Tell of the arms, the silver breasts, and the faces of the houris!
6
And if you are yellow gold from separation's heartache, where is separation's
Burning brand? Only the coins of the wretched are so dull and tarnished.
7
Since you have no love, at least perform the duties of servanthood,
For God will never neglect the wages of the wage earners.
8
Know that love for God is Solomon's seal,
How should Solomon's income be related to the wages of ants?
9
Throw away the garments of thought and cogitation,
For the sun only shines upon the naked!
10
Seek refuge in the locks of Shams-i Tabrizi, for they
Rain down musk and will protect you from tyrants.
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59. F-2102: p. 186
1
What does it mean to be Love's familiar?
Only to separate oneself from the heart's desire,
2
To become blood, to swallow down one's own blood,
And to wait at fidelity's door with the dogs.
3
The lover sacrifices himself. For him,
Death and removal are no different from staying.
4
On your way, oh Moslem! Be shielded
By safety and strive at your piety,
5
For these martyrs have no patience without death,
They are in love with their own annihilation.
6
Flee, if you want, from affliction and fate,
Their fear is to be without affliction.
7
Perform the fast on the recommended days and on Ashura;
You cannot go to Karbala*.
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* According to the Sunnah of the Prophet, fasting is recommended on Ashura (the 10-th day of the month of Muharram).
It was on this day, that the Prophet's grandson Husayn was martyred at Karbala in the year 61 H / 680 AD.
(means: martyrdom is not for an average Moslem)
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60. F-2206: p. 160
1
Brother*! To be a lover, you must have pain! Where is your pain?
Sincerity and patience require a man. Where is the man?
2
How much longer will your invocation be congealed and your meditation paralyzed?
Where are passionate cries and a yellow face?
3
I am not looking for the elixir or gold. Where is a receptive piece of copper?
How can even a lukewarm disciple attain passionate love? What then if he's cold?
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* This short ghazal criticizes those disciples, who lack the necessary fervor in their practice.
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61. F-2243: p. 300
1
Thy shining Face has become my spirit's mirror;
We two were once one, my spirit and Thy Spirit.
2
Oh perfect, full Moon! The house of the heart is Thine! The intellect,
Which was once the master, has become Thy slave and doorman.
3
From the day of Alast, the spirit has been drunk with Thee,
Though for a time, it was distracted by water and clay.
4
Since the clay has now settled to the bottom, the water is clear;
No more do I say: "This is mine, that is Thine".
5
Now the Emperor of Rum has smashed the Ethiopians*.
May Thy laughing good fortune be forever victorious!
6
Oh, Thy Face is like the moon, let me lament from time to time,
For Thy eloquent love has become my veil.
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* Rum or the Byzantine Empire is employed by Rumi here to symbolize light and union, while the Ethiopians - darkness and separation.
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62. F-2251: p. 234
1 *
When I start from the beginning, He is my leader;
When I seek my heart, He is its ravisher.
2
When I strive for peace, He intercedes for me;
When I go to war, He is my dagger.
3
When I come to the gathering, He is the wine and the sweetmeats;
When I enter the garden, He is the narcissus.
4
When I go down to the mine, He is the ruby and carnelian;
When I dive into the sea, He is the pearl.
5
When I cross the desert, He is the oasis;
When I ascend the spheres, He is the star.
6
When I show my fortitude, He is my breast,
When I burn from heartache, He is the censer.
7
When I enter battle at the time of war,
He keeps the ranks and leads the army.
8
When I go to a banquet at the time of joy,
He is the saki, minstrel, and cup.
9
When I write letters to my friends,
He is paper, pen, and ink-well.
10
When I awaken, He is my new awareness;
When I go to bed, He enters my dreams.
11
When I seek a rhyme for my poetry,
He eases the way for my mind.
12
He stands above whatever form
You can picture, like painter and pen.
13
No matter how much higher you look,
He is still higher than that "higher" of yours.
14
Go, abandon speaking and books,
Much better it is to let Him be your book.
15
Be silent! For all six directions are His Light;
And when you pass beyond the directions, He Himself is the Ruler.
16
I have preferred Thy Pleasure over my own;
Thy secret is mine, so I keep it hidden.
17
Marvellous sun of Tabriz! Like the sun,
He is exceedingly worthy of himself.
________________________
* Like other Sufi poets, Rumi employs imagery, which possesses a particular technical significance.
Even so, the general sense of his verses is always easy to grasp, once a simple principle is understood: whatever the lover says, concerns his Beloved.
_______________________________________________________
63. F-2293 (AA 291): p. 141
1
I keep on seeing a moon in my eyes, outside of my eyes,
But the eyes have not seen him, nor have the ears heard news of him.
2
From the moment I first looked furtively at that face,
I have seen neither tongue, spirit, nor heart except in selflessness.
3
If Plato had seen the beauty and loveliness of that moon,
He would have become madder than I and more distraught.
4
Eternity is the mirror of temporality and temporality of Eternity:
In that mirror, these two are intertwined, like his two tresses.
5
Beyond sense perception is a cloud, whose rain is all spirit.
What rains have rained as largesse upon the dust of his body!
6
The moon-faced beauties of heaven have seen the reflection of his face,
Ashamed at his beauty, they scratch their heads in wonder.
7
Eternity-without-beginning grasped the hand of Eternity-without-end, and together
They went to the palace of that moon. Jealously looked at the two and laughed*:
8
"Around his palace, what lions have come out of jealousy**,
Roaring for the blood of the self-sacrificers and the sincere"***.
9
Suddenly I asked: "Who is that king?" "Shams al-Din,
The king of Tabriz," and my blood began to boil.
____________________________
* Beit 7: "Jealousy looked at the two and laughed"..
Arberry # 291: "Having seen both, it [post-eternity] laughed in jealous pride at the two" (bididah har du ra ghayrat bidin har du bikhandidah).
"Post-eternity" cannot be the subject, since it is one of the objects;
also, there is no grammatical reason for the "in'', if that were meant, the poet would have said "az ghayrat".
** Beit 8a: Arberry ignored the "kih", which begins the line and indicates, that it is a quotation, since it implies, "saying".
*** Beit 8b: in no case can "siddiq / sincere" mean "adventurous".
_______________________________________________________
64. F-2331 (AA 297): p. 267
1
Oh formless Heart-ravisher! Oh unformed Form-maker!
Oh Thou who hast given a goblet full of uproar to the lovers!
2
Thou hast shut my mouth*, lest I voice the mysteries.
And in the breast Thou hast opened the door, I cannot name.
3
As soon as Thy Beauty threw off its veil in secret,
My heart fell to the saki and my head to the wine.
4
It was morning, and Thy Image went mounted on its steed.
Holy spirits, innumerable as sand, went on foot.
5
And those, who are famous for their glorification of Thee in heaven,
Broke their rosaries and pawned their prayer carpets.
6
The spirit** cannot bear to see Thy Face unveiled,
And Thy Beauty is greater, than whatever I say.
7
My spirit is a drunken camel, following behind Thee,
My body a collar around the camel's neck.
8
Shams of God Tabrizi! My heart is pregnant from thee!
When will I see the child born of thy auspiciousness!
_________________________
* Beit 2: "Thou hast shut my mouth".
Arberry # 297: "You have closed your mouth" (dihan ra tu basti).
The grammar allows either interpretation, but the first seems to fit the sense better.
** Beit 6: "The spirit".
Arberry: "They / jan". He mistranslate.
_______________________________________________________
65. F-2509 (AA 321): p. 302-303
1
Today the King came secretly before the madmen,
And their spiritually possessed souls began to lament.
2
That King recognized my voice among the shouts,
For it was purified from the breath of animality.
3
He made a royal gesture, meaning*: "One of the possessed has escaped his fetters".
Oh King, if I am possessed, Thou art the Solomon of all possessing spirits.
4
Oh King! Thou knowest the mysteries of the birds and the incantations of the jinn.
How fitting, if Thou shouldst also recite a spell over this madman!
5
An old man came before the King and said: ''Bind him with chains,
For this madman has caused a great deal of uproar and destruction among the devils**".
6
My King said: "This madman can be held by no chain,
But My tresses, you do not know his character.
7
He will snap thousands of fetters and fly to Our hand.
He will become "to Us they shall return" (Koran 21:93), for he is a royal falcon".
___________________________
* Beit 3: "He made a royal gesture, meaning".
Arberry # 321: "He signaled so royally, that the madmen" (isharat kard shahanah kih jast az band divanah).
Arberry misunderstand the sense of the verse. "Kih" here indicates the King's words and there is no linguistic basis for the word "so."
** Beit 5b: "Devils". Arberry # 321: "Divan" (i.e., the council of state).
The word "diwan" can mean either; in the context, the former sense seems more likely.
_______________________________________________________
66. F-2602: p. 228-229
1
Oh enemy of my intellect! Oh remedy of my ignorance!
I am a vat, and Thou art the wine fermenting within.
2
Thou art the First and the Last, Thou art the Outward and within the head (Koran 57:31),
Thou art sultan and shah, chamberlain and guard.
3
Thou art sweet natured and ill-natured, heart-burning and heart-soothing,
Moon-faced Joseph and an obstacle, a veil.
4
Thou art exceedingly fresh and verdant, very comely and fine,
Thou art in my mind, like the intellect and upon my ear, like a ring.
5
Thou art far away and self, before and more,
Ill-thinking friend, venom and elixir.
6
Oh Ambusher of the selfless, oh Treasurer of the dervishes!
Oh Lord, how joyful are the fakirs, when Thou art in their embrace!
7
On the day I am sober, I am full of drunken brawling,
But when I am drunk, what patience and silence!
_______________________________________________________
67. F-2675: p. 293-294
1
Learn from the Prophet an alchemy:
Whatever God gives you, be content.
2
At the very moment you become content
In affliction, the door of paradise will open.
3
If the messenger of heartache comes
Tto you, embrace him like a friend!
4
A cruelty that comes from the Beloved -
Bestow upon it a warm welcome!
5
Then that heartache can throw off its chador,
Rain down sugar, and be gentle and heart-ravishing.
6
Seize the edge of heartache's chador,
For she is beautiful, but deceptive.
7
In this lane, I am the whoremonger,
I have pulled off the chador from every beautiful face.
8
They all put on ugly chadors,
So that you will think they are dragons.
9
But I am fed up with my spirit, I worship dragons!
If you are fed up with your spirit, then hear their calls of welcome!
10
Heartache can never find me
Without laughter - I call the pain "the cure".
11
Nothing is more blessed, than heartache,
For its reward has no end.
12
If you do not show your manliness, you will find nothing.
I will be silent, lest a mistake jump from my mouth.
_______________________________________________________
68. F-2730: p. 140
1
A sugar-lipped sweetheart brought news:
"A caravan has come from Egypt!
2
A hundred camels, all sugar and candy,
Oh Lord, what a fine gift!
3
A candle has come at midnight!
A spirit has entered a corpse!"
4
I said: "Speak plainly!"
She said: "You-know-who has come."
5
My heart flew up in joy and
Placed a ladder at the intellect's edge.
6
It rushed to the roof in its love,
Seeking a tangible sign of that good news.
7
Suddenly, from the housetop
It saw a world outside of our world;
8
An all-encompassing ocean in a jug,
A heaven in the form of dust.
9
Upon the roof sat a king,
Wearing the clothes of a watchman,
10
An infinite garden and paradise
Within that gardener's breast.
11
His image traveled from breast to breast,
Explaining the Sultan of the heart.[12]
12
Oh image of that king, flee not from my eyes!
Renew my heart for a moment!
13
Shams-i Tabrizi has seen No-place
And built from it a place.
_______________________________
12. On the "image" which enters the heart, see Part III, D "Imagination and Thought", p. 248
Rumi stresses that in employing imagery and symbolism to describe the various dimensions of separation and union he is not following his own caprice and self-will.
The very imagery he employs is imposed upon him from outside of himself, ultimately by God.
Simplistically we could take this to mean that he has been "inspired by the Muse," but in saying this we have not really explained anything.
Fortunately, Rumi alludes to the nature of his visions and the mode, in which they assume the form of poetical imagery, in numerous passages.
By collating these we can see that he presents a clear ontological basis for his poetry, which comes to him from the "World of Imagination" (`alam-i khayal).
_______________________________________________________
69. F-2742: p. 324-325
1
O Thou, who cut off my sleep,
Went into a corner, and sat down!
2
Thou entered my heart, like a moon,
But, when the heart looked at Thee, Thou weft* gone.
3
Since Thou displayed the garden of Nonexistence,
How should we have patience with existence?
4
When a spirit has found union and intoxication,
What will be its state in separation's winesickness?
5
How could that house remain standing,
Whose pillar Thou hast broken down through separation?
6
Oh drunken brain, you thought you had
Escaped from the suffering of winesickness!
7
But in Love, there are union and separationon;
O that the road, there are ups and downs.
8
Though you know God in one respect,
In ten respects you worship water and clay!
9
You still must travel a long journey,
Before you reach the place you seek in your madness.
_________________________
* waft ? - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wafted
_______________________________________________________
70. F-2744: p. 323
1
It is a day of revelry, a year of joy,
For today Thou hast happened by our lane!
2
The darkness of heartache lifted,
When Thou placed Thy candle in the midst.
3
How can thought and heartache stand up
To the cup of faithfulness that Thou hast poured?
4
Oh wine, from which skin did you come?
Oh moon, which month gave birth to you?
5
You are drunk, joyful, and happy,
You are the heart's sultan and shah.
6
And the intellect, that was heartache's magistrate,
You took it away from us with such mastery!
7
Joy to you, for you have tied the feet of heartache,
And opened the door to a hundred kinds of joy!
_______________________________________________________
71. F-2879: p. 335-336
1
Shame of every caravan! Iblis has routed you! Every time
You decide on a course of action, you become his buffoon!
2
You have sacrificed yourself to the body, for the sake of the devil's fodder;
Are you then the devil's goat or Iblis's lamb?
3
Oh man of good coin! Why do you have regrets? Submit your neck,
You only suffer these slaps, because you are Iblis's coin.
4
Cooked turnip! Cut off all hope for that green garden,
For you sit next to bread, like Iblis's salad.
5
When you see bread, you fall down on your face, like a catamite*,
You are in love with the devil's sperm and Iblis's penis!
6
You make the intention to fast, but then the feedbag says to you:
"Oh ass, put your head into Iblis's feedbag!"
7
You have no idea of what your true situation will be;
With all your knowledge and erudition, you are nothing but Iblis's sack.
8
You have wasted yourself away in concern over how to plump up your body;
You have begun to wail as if you were Iblis's own throat!
9
Whether you swallow down unbelief or faith, you vomit them up,
Like a dog. Your faith and unbelief are only in Iblis.
10
Until the day death comes, like bad vinegar, and catches in your throat,
You will be sour and rotten, like lblis's gargle!
11
Keep on darting around those circular loaves of bread and piled-up tables,
Like a fly, until the Day of Resurrection, or you will be in Iblis's circle!
______________________________
* A catamite (Latin) was a boy, who was the intimate companion of a young man in ancient Rome, usually in a pederastic friendship.
The word derives from the noun "Catamitus", the Latinized form of Ganymede, the beautiful Trojan youth abducted by Zeus to be his companion and cupbearer.
The Etruscan form of the name was Catmite, from an alternate Greek form of the name, Gadymedes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catamite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Warren_Cup_BM_GR_1999.4-26.1_n2.jpg
http://traditio-ru.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82
_______________________________________________________
72. F-2936: p. 283-284
1
Oh laughing, new spring, you have come from No-place!
You resemble the Friend somewhat. What have you seen of Him?
2
You are laughing and fresh of face, verdant and musk-scented,
Are you the same color as our Friend, or did you buy some of His dye?
3
Oh wonderful season, like the spirit you are hidden from the eye:
Manifest in your effects, but concealed in your essence.
4
Oh rose, why not laugh? For you have been delivered from separation.
Oh cloud, why not cry? For you have been cut off from your friend.
5
Oh rose, adorn the meadow and laugh for all to see!
For you had to hide among thorns for months.
6
Oh garden, nurture well those new arrivals,
The tales of whose coming you had heard from the thunder.
7
Oh wind, make the branches dance,
In remembrance of the day, you wafted* over union.
8
Behold these trees, all of them joyful, like a gathering of the felicitous;
Oh violet, why are you bent over in heartache?
9
The lily says to the buds: "Though your eyes are closed,
They will soon open, for you have tasted of good fortune".
___________________________
* http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wafted
_______________________________________________________
73. F-2996: p. 341-342
1
Were I a plaything in the hand of every heartache,
I would not be clever and wise, but a fool.
2
Did not the sun of Love belong to me, like Saturn,
I would sometimes ascend in grief, and sometimes descend.
3
Were the fragrance of Love's city not my guide,
I would be caught by the ghouls, like those, lost in greed's desert!
4
If the Sun of the spirits remained sitting in its house,
I would be busy with opening doors, and coming, and going.
5
If the Rosegarden of the spirit did not caress the afflicted,
How could I be a messenger from the Garden of Faithfulness, like the east wind?
6
Were Love not a sama-lover and tambourine-addict,
Why would I be singing songs like a flute and a harp?
7
If my Saki did not give me a potion to make me plump,
I would be as thin as the lip of the cup.
8
Did not the Garden have branches and shade,
I would be without roots, like the trees of fortune of vile men.
9
Had not God's Trust shone upon my earth,
I would be sinful, very foolish, like the earthly temperament.[40]
10
Were there no way from the grave to paradise,
Why am I so joyful and expansive in this grave of the body?
11
And were there no road from left to right, why am I
The companion of the north and south winds, like the garden?
12
Were there no Garden of Generosity, how could I have blossomed?
If not for God's Gentleness and Bounty, I would be a meddlesome bore!
13
Enough! Listen to the story's sunrise from the Sun!
If there were no such sunrise, I would have set!
_____________________________
40. See Part I. "Theory", Section D. "Man", §1. "The Trust", p. 61:
Creation fulfills its ultimate purpose through the prophets and the saints, that is, those who have actualized all the potentialities of the human state.
The first of the prophets and the prototype of human perfection is Adam. Rumi often employs his name, and more commonly the term "Adam-related" (adami),
to mean "man" in the ultimate state of spiritual perfection (in certain other schools of Sufism, the term ''Perfect Man" is employed with the same meaning).
Hence Rumi understands Koranic verses and prophetic sayings that mention Adam, to refer also to man in the state of perfection.
_______________________________________________________
74. F-3003: p. 149-150
1
Would that you could know yourself for a time!
Would that you would see a sign of your own beautiful face!
2
Then you would not sleep in water and clay, like an animal:
You would go to the house of joy of all lovely spirits.
3
You would travel to your every far corner, to make yourself manifest,
For a Hidden Treasure has remained concealed within you!
4
Were you only this body, you would have no news of the spirit;
Were you only this spirit, you would rest happily, within it.
5
Like others, you would make do with good and evil,
You would manage with this and thatif, that is, you were only this and that.
6
Were you only one stew, you would have a single flavor;
Were you only one pot, you would boil in just one way.
7
Were you to be purified of this churning agitation,
You would reside on top of the heavens, like those, who are pure.
8
To every image of your own imagination you say: "Oh, my spirit, my world!"
Were these images to disappear, you yourself would be the spirit and the world.
9
Enough, for your words have become intellect's shackle!
If not for words, you would be nothing, but tongue, like the Universal Intellect.
10
Enough, for knowledge is a veil upon knowledge, if you knew that,
You are the King! Why would you remain the interpreter?
_______________________________________________________
75. F-3041: p. 218-219
1
If you do not know me, then ask the dark night. Night is
The lover's confidant, the witness of his lamentation and tears.
2
Why talk of night? For the lover displays a thousand signs,
The least of which are tears, yellow cheeks, a frail body, and failing health.
3
In weeping, he is like the clouds, in perseverance, like the mountains,
In prostration, like water, in lowliness, like dirt in the road.
4
Although all these afflictions surround his garden, like thorns,
Within it are - roses, the Beloved, and a flowing fountain.
5
When you pass by the garden's wall and enter into its greenery,
You will give thanks and prostrate yourself in gratitude:
6
"Thanksgiving and praise belong to God! For He has taken away autumn's cruelty.
The earth has blossomed, spring has shown its face!
7
A thousand naked branches have put on robes of flowers!
A thousand desert thorns have lost their teeth!"
8
How should the man of intellect know the sweetness of heartache for the Beloved?
He is like a weaver, who knows not the arts of war and horsemanship.
9
The lovers are your brother, mother, and father,
For they have all become one, kneaded together by Love.
10
When a thousand corpses are thrown into the salt mines,
They all become salt, no duality remains, no "man from Marv" or "man from Balkh".
11
Do not pull in the reins of speech, because of the thickheadedness of your bored listeners!
Behold the thirsty angels in heaven, when you pronounce your words!
_______________________________________________________
76. F-3067: p. 331-332
1
You are still caught at the stage of arranging your shoes and turban.
How will you find the cup of the heavy drinker?
2
By my spirit, come for an instant to the Ruins!
You are also human, you are a person, you have a spirit.
3
Come and pawn your Sufi cloak with the Wine-seller of Alast, for from that time,
From before water and clay, there has been plenty of wine-selling.
4
Fakir, gnostic, and dervish and then you are sober?
These names are all metaphors, you are imagining things.
5
Are not samaa and the wine-drinking, of He gave to drink, the work of the dervish?
Are not profit and loss, more and less, the work of the merchant?
6
Come, tell us, what is "Alast"? Everlasting joy.
Do not tarry in hypocrisy, for you are completely prepared for the Way!
7
Why do you bind a head that has no pain?
Why do you pretend your healthy body is sick?
_______________________________________________________
77. F-3072: p. 344-345
1
Look at me! If you gaze at anyone else,
For certain you are unaware of love for God!
2
Behold the face, that has received its radiance from God!
Perhaps all at once you may win good fortune from it.
3
Since intellect is your father and the body your mother,
Behold the beauty of your father's face! Show that you are his son!
4
Know, that from head to foot the shaykh is nothing,
But God's Attributes, even if you see him in human form.
5
In your eyes he is like foam, but he describes himself as the Ocean;
In the eyes of men he is standing still, but every instant he is traveling.
6
You still find it difficult to grasp the shaykh's state, even though
He displays a thousand of God's greatest signs, how dull you are!
7
A spiritual Form, purified of the elements,
Reached the heart's Mary from God's Court!
8
A passing messenger impregnated the heart
With a breath, concealing the spirit's mystery!
9
Oh heart, made pregnant by that King!
When you put down your burden, be sure to gaze upon it!
10
When Shams-i Tabrizi gives form to that burden, you will become
Like the heart, and like the heart, you will fly to the Unseen!
========================================================
Abbreviations
A - A.J. Arberry, "Mystical Poems of Rumi", First Selection, Poems 1 - 200, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.
AA - A.J. Arberry et al., "Mystical Poems of Rumi", Second Selection, Poems 201 - 400, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1979.
N - R.A. Nicholson, "Selected Poems from the Divani Shamsi Tabriz", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898; repr. 1961.
D - "Diwan-i Shams-i Tabriz", Badiuzzaman Furuzanfar ed., "Kulliyyat-i Shams ya diwan-i kabir", 10 vols, Tehran: University of Tehran Press, 1336-46 AH / 1957-67 AD.
- Italicized numerals refer to the number of the ghazal,
- Roman numerals refer to the number of the line;
- when a ghazal has been translated in its entirety, numbers of lines are not mentioned.
F-#: Furuzanfar's Ghazal #;
p. #: Chittick's page #.
NB
Prof. Chittick tried to avoid excessive quotations from the works previously translated in English, especially the "Mathnawi" and "Fihi ma fihi".
Therefor, he emphasized the untranslated ghazals, although material from other sources could also be quoted in abundance.
_______________________________________________________
- William Chittick, "The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi", SUNY Press, ISBN: 0873957245, 1983, - 444 p.
- Уильям Читтик, "В поисках скрытого смысла. Суфийский путь любви. Духовное учение Руми", пер., сост., предисл. М. Степанянц, М.: Ладомир, ISBN: 586218113X, 1995, - 543 с.
Web:
English:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/68857528/Sufi-Path-of-Love-Spiritual-Teachings-of-Rumi
Russian:
http://rumi.sufism.ru/chittik.html
http://www.gigabase.com/getfile/XLL2mfCDotn2zbvHwcIljgBB/В-поисках-смысла.rar.html
http://turbobit.net/h2kq41cm8hpr.html
http://depositfiles.com/files/jauej6c2c
Blog1: http://hojja-nusreddin.dreamwidth.org/132134.html
Blog2: http://hojja-nusreddin.livejournal.com/2964208.html
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Part 2. To Part 1: http://hojja-nusreddin.livejournal.com/2964208.html