On The Music Box: Mercan Dede
Sunday was Rumi’s 700th Birthday, so with a bit of prompting from Mike Crowley, I put this together to celebrate…
Hope You enjoy!
Gwyllm
The Poetry of Rumi – Coleman Barks & Robert Bly perform
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___________
Never be without remembrance of Him,
for His remembrance
gives strength and wings
to the bird of the Spirit.
If that objective of yours
is fully realized, that is
“Light upon Light”…
…But at the very least, by
practicing God’s remembrance
your inner being
will be illuminated
little by little and
you will achieve
some measure of detachment
from the world.
—
“One went to the door of the Beloved and
knocked. A voice asked, ‘Who is there?’
He answered, ‘It is I.’
The voice said, ‘There is no room for Me and Thee.’
The door was shut.
After a year of solitude and deprivation he returned and knocked.
A voice from within asked, ‘Who is there?’
The man said, ‘It is Thee.’
The door was opened for him.”
—
Thou and I
Joyful the moment when we sat in the bower, Thou and I;
In two forms and with two faces – with one soul, Thou and I.
The colour of the garden and the song of the birds give the elixir of immortality
The instant we come into the orchard, Thou and I.
The stars of Heaven come out to look upon us –
We shall show the moon herself to them, Thou and I.
Thou and I, with no ‘Thou’ or ‘I’, shall become one through our tasting;
Happy, safe from idle talking, Thou and I.
The spirited parrots of heaven will envy us –
Wen we shall laugh in such a way, Thou and I.
This is stranger, that Thou and I, in this corner here…
Are both in one breath here and there – Thou and I.
The garden of
Love
is green without
limit
and yields many
fruits
other than sorrow
and joy.
Love is beyond either
condition:
without spring,
without autumn,
it is always fresh.
—
Spring Giddiness
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
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 touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let’s buy it.
Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?
All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reedsong. If it
fades, we fade.
—
Art as Flirtation and Surrender
In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.
Love Dogs
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