The evening

How lovely is this poem by Rumi, entitled Not intrigued by the evening. I need to remind this view again and again to me:




Not intrigued by the evening


What the material world values does
not shine the same in the truth of

the soul. You have been interested
in your shadow. Look instead directly

at the sun. What can we know by just
watching the time-and-space shapes of

each other? Someone half awake in the night sees imaginary dangers; the

morning star rises; the horizon grows
defined; people become friends in a

moving caravan. Night birds may think
daybreak a kind of darkness, because

that's all they know. It's a fortunate
bird who's not intrigued with evening,

who flies in the sun we call Shams.

From Soul of Rumi
by Coleman Barks


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Rumi - 3

Paradoxes: best wakefulness in sleep, wealth in having
nothing, a pearl necklace

fastened around an iron collar. Fire contained in boiling
water. Revenues growing from

funds flowing out. Giving is gainful employment. It brings in
money. Taking time for

ritual prayer and meditation saves time. Sweet fruit hide in
leaves. Dung becomes food

for the ground and generative power in trees. Nonexistence
contains existence. Love

encloses beauty. Brown flint and gray steel have orange
candlelight in them. Inside

fear, safety. In the black pupil of the eye, many
brilliancies. Inside

the body-cow, a handsome prince.

Rumi (The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems, Translations by Coleman Barks, p. 76)

Rumi-2

I am really impressed by the English translations of Rumi's poems. I think they are so soft, so pure, so delightful that they can 'cross the boundaries' and 'language barries'. Sometimes, they make me happy; sometimes, they make me cry. Some are just sudden revelations or a strike at the heart...There are lots of things to share but I hesitate.
So I will continue sharing his poems. These are from the book entitled "Unseen Rain: Quatrains of Rumi" by John Moyne and Coleman Barks. Threshold Books. 1986 (Rubaiyat/rubailer)
I may provide originals in Persian (Farsca/Farsi) and Turkish translations as well. May be.

Inner and Outer World

This passage is from Rumi again. I found it very very helpful:

---------------------------------------
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door of laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

(p. 109)

Keep practicing...

Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
is a ring on the door.

Keep knocking, and the joy is inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who's there.

(p.101)

Rumi

(Mevlana Celaleddin/Jalāl ad-Dīn) Rumi had lived in Konya. He was a poet, a sufi, a mystic, and a philosopher. His followers established 'the Whirling Dervishes'.

My mother is from Konya and I was born in that beautiful city. I am now reading the English translations of Rumi's works (The Essential Rumi, trans. by Coleman Barks and John Moyne, 1997, Castle Books)- which is a bit strange to me. By the way, we normally call Rumi as Mevlana. Interested readers may find more info here and here.

I would like to share some passages from the book as I read through. They, of course, have multiple interpretations and reflections.