Rumi Poems

#1 Community of the Spirit (excerpt)

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.


The Essential Rumi. Trans. Coleman Barks and John Moyne. San Francisco: Harper, 1995.



#2 Shadow of the Beloved (excerpt)

In truth, everyone is a shadow of the Beloved -
Our seeking is His seeking,
Our words are His words.

At times we flow toward the Beloved
like a dancing stream.
At times we are still water
held in His pitcher.
At times we boil in a pot
turning to vapor -
that is the job of the Beloved.

He breathes into my ear
until my soul
takes on His fragrance.
He is the soul of my soul -
How can I escape?
But why would any soul in this world
want to escape from the Beloved?


The Essential Rumi. Trans. Coleman Barks and John Moyne. San Francisco: Harper, 1995.
 

#3 We Are as the Flute

We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee;
we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee.

We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat:
our victory and defeat is from thee, O thou whose qualities are comely!

Who are we, O Thou soul of our souls,
that we should remain in being beside thee?

We and our existences are really non-existence;
thou art the absolute Being which manifests the perishable.

We all are lions, but lions on a banner:
because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment.

Their onward rush is visible, and the wind is unseen:
may that which is unseen not fail from us!

Our wind whereby we are moved and our being are of thy gift;
our whole existence is from thy bringing into being.


Teachings of Rumi: The Masnavi. Trans. E.H. Whinfield. London: Octagon Press, 2005.




#4 Love Story

The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.


Open Secret: Versions of Rumi. Trans. John Moynes and Coleman Barks. Boston: Threshhold Books, 1983.

 

#5 Light Breeze

As regards feeling pain, like a hand cut in battle,
consider the body a robe you wear.   
 

When you meet someone you love, do you kiss their clothes? 
Search out who's inside. Union with God is sweeter than body comforts.
 

We have hands and feet different from these. Sometimes in dream we see them.
That is not illusion. It's seeing truly. You do have a spirit body;
don't dread leaving the physical one. 

Sometimes someone feels this truth so strongly
that he or she can live in mountain solitude totally refreshed. 

The worried, heroic doings of men and women seem weary
and futile to dervishes enjoying the light breeze of spirit.
The Soul of Rumi. Trans. Coleman Barks. New York: HarperOne, 2002.