Transcription
THE ESSENTIALR umiTRANS LATI ON SBYCOLEMAN BARKSWITHJOHN MOYNE
The Essential Rumi
The Essential Rumi rTranslated by COLEMAN BARKSwith JOHN MOYNEA. J. ARBERRYREYNOLD NICHOLSONCASTLE BOOKS
for the compassionate heart within the mind, the lightwithin the body,for the sun, Shams of Tabriz, and Bawa MuhaiyaddeenCopyright 1995 by Coleman Barks. All rights reserved.Printed in the t Inited States of America. No part of this book may be used orreproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in thecase of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For informationaddress HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.THE ESSENTIAL RUMI.This edition published by arrangement and with permission ofHarperSanFrancisco, a division of Harper Co lins Publishers, Inc.This edition copyright 1997 by Castle Books.Published by CASTLE BOOKSA Division of Book Sales, Inc.114 Northfield Avenue, Edison, New Jersey 08837ISBN 0-7858-0871-XMANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES DF AMERICA.
- ' ContentsOn Rumi xiA Note on the Organization of This Book xvThe Tavern: Whoever Brought Me Here WillHave to Take Me HomeON THE TAVERN IWho Says Words with My Mouth? 2We have a huge barrel of wine . 2A Community of the Spirit 3There's a strange frenzy in my head . . . 4Drunks fear the police . 4A Children's Game 4Gone, inner and outer . 5The wine wereally drink . 6The Many Wines 6Special Plates 7BurntKabob 7The New Rule 8This that is tormented . 8i.z. Bewilderment: I Have Five Things to SayON BEWILDERMENT 9I Have Five Things to Say 9Acts ofHelplessness iISaladin's Begging Bowl i2Late, by myself . i2Does sunset sometimes look . 13Be Melting Snow 13TheFragile Vial 14Where Are We? I5The Friend comes into mybody. -6There is a light seed grain . i6Do you thinkI know . I63. Emptiness and Silence: The Night AirON SILENCE 17The Reed Flute's Song 17A Thirsty Fish i9Enough Words? 2oThis World Which Is Made of Our Love forEmptiness 2IQuietness 22Sanai 22A Just-FinishingCandle 23Craftsmanship and Emptiness 24Emptiness 26When you are with everyone but me . 28No Flag 28The FoodSack 29The Night Air 30Only Breath 32There is a waybetween voice . . . 324. Spring Giddiness: Stand in the Wake of This Chatteringand Grow AiryON SPRING GIDDINESS 33Spring 33Where Everything IsMusic 34A Great Wagon 35Today, like every other day . 36Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing . . . 36The breeze at dawn . . . 36I would love to kiss you . 37Daylight, full of small dancingparticles . . . 37They try to say what you are . . . 37Come to the
Shreds of Steam 38Spring Is Christ 37orchard in Spring . . . 37Unfold Your OwnThe Groand Cries Out 39The Steambath 39Myth 40Not a Day on Any Calendar 4IFlutes for Dancing 42The Sheikh WhoThe Grasses 43The Shape of My Tongue 42Played with Children 44Let the lover be disgraceful . . . 46All day and night, music . . 465. Feeling Separation: Don't Come Near MeON SEPARATION 47Sometimes I Forget Completely 47A night full of talking thatA Man and a Woman Arguing 47The Diver's Clothes Lyinghurts . . 50An Empty Garlic 50Don't let yourMyWorstHabit 52RedShirt51.51Empty. . . 53ofSugar53Palesunlighttighten.52Dissolverthroat6. Controlling the Desire-Body: How Did You Kill Your Rooster, Husam?54Sexual Urgency, What a Woman'sTattooing inLaughter Can Do, and the Nature of True Virility 55Qazwin 6rThe Center of the Fire 63Someone who goes withhalf a loaf . . 64The mystery does not get clearer . . .64Muhammad and the Huge Eater 64Fasting 69Bismillah 70Wean Yourself 70After the Meditation 71The Dog in the DoorTending Two Shops 74way 73The light you give off . 74Think that you're gliding out . . . 75ON THE DESIRE-BODY7. Sohbet: Meetings on the RiverbankTalking Through76Talking in The Night 77the Door 78A Mouse and a Frog 79The Long String 8oThe Force of Friendship 84The Vigil 85Two Friends 87The Servant Who Loved His Prayers 89Imra'u 'I-Qays goAllRivers at Once 92The Blocked Road 93A Babbling Child 939Constant Conversation 94Who sees inside from outside? . . 94The Question 97In Between Stories 95Bonfire at Midnight 95The Music 981 saw you last night in the gathering . . . 98The Tent 98Friend, our closeness is this . . . 99Listen topresences . . . 99ON SOHBET8. Being a Lover: The Sunrise RubyWater fromThe Sunrise Ruby iooBEING A LOVER iooYou Sweep the Floor 102Each Note 102Your Spring ioiMusic Master ioyBuoyancy 104Granite and Wineglass 103The minute I heard my first loveWhen I am with you . . . Io6ON
story . . io6We are the mirror as well as the face . . ro6to hold you close . 107Someone Digging in the GroundThe Phrasing Must Change io8The Guest House I09I wantI079. The Pickaxe: Getting to the Treasure Beneath the FoundationWho Makes These Changes? i oWhyWine Is Forbidden IIiOn Resurrection Day iIIThe DreamThat Must Be Interpreted ri2The Pickaxe Ii 3Zikr 114The Core of Masculinity i15I honor those who try . i16Dervish at the Door ii6ON THE PICKAXE 10Io.Art as Flirtationwith Surrender: Wanting New Silk Harp StringsThat Doesn't Existlight I learn . .22.Omar and the Old Poet II8Chinese Art and Greek Art i21Drumsound rises on the air . 122ir8ON FLIRTATIONi2ojealous of the ocean's generosity? .Ii.An EgyptIn yourAre you. 123Union: Gnats Inside the WindGnats Inside the Wind I24MeadowAyaz and the King's Pearl I26Put This Design ini28Hallaj i29We Three 1301 am filled withON UNI ON 124sounds I25Your CarpetYou. 131I z.The Sheikh: I Have Such a TeacherChickpea to Cook 132I Have Such aSublime Generosity 134Like This 135Wax 138No Room for Form I38ChildhoodThe Mouse and the Camel 142These gifts from theThe Lame Goat I44ON THE SHEIKH 132Teacher 133A Bowl I37Friends 139Friend . 14413. Recognizing Elegance: Your Reasonable Father145Father Reason 145A craftsman pulled areed . . . 146Humble living does not diminish . I46NewMoon, Hilal 147Body Intelligence i51The Seed Market 153ON EL E GA N CEI4. TheHowling Necessity: Cry Out in Your Weakness155Love Dogs I55Cry Out in Your WeaknessThe Debtor Sheikh 157You that come to birth . i6oON HOWLINGI5615. Teaching Stories: How the Unseen World Worksi6iNasuh I6IMoses and theJoy at Sudden Disappointment i68If the belovedON THE UNSEENShepherd I65is everywhere .171Story WaterI7I
i6. Rough Metaphors: More Teaching Stories173ON ROUGHNESSRough MetaphorsBirdwingsI73174I Come Before Dawn 175Checkmate I75An AwkwardComparison 177Two Kinds of Intelligence 178Two Ways ofRunning 178The Importance of Gourdcrafting i8iBreadmaking 18317. Solomon Poems: The Far Mosquei86Sheba's Gifts to Solomon i86Solomon toSheba's Hesitation 188Sheba's Throne i89ON SO LO MONSheba i88Solomon's Crooked Crown190delegation came to Solomon .The Far MosqueA birdi9i. I-2i 8. The Three Fish: Gamble Everything for LoveON GAMBLING 193If you want what visible reality . .193Gamble everything . . 193In a boat down a fast-runningcreek . . . I94The Three Fish 194Send the ChaperonesAway 198When I remember your love . 199All our liveswe've looked . . i99The Gift of Water i9919.Jesus Poems: The Populationof the WorldON JESUS201Lean Donkey 202population . . . 2 04I called through your door . 201What Jesus Runs Away From 204There's Nothing Ahead 205Jesus on theChrist is thezo. In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo: More Teaching Stories2o6In BagI-dad, Dreaming of Cairo: In Cairo,Dreaming of Baghdad 2o6Dying, Laughing 212HumanHonesty 213Dalqak's Message 214The Cat and the Meat 216Sheikh Kharraqani and His Wretched Wife 217The Snake-Catcherand the Frozen Snake 220Polishing the Mirror 222Ali in Battle 223ON BAGHDADzi.Beginning and End: The Stories That Frame the Mathnawi225The King and the Handmaiden and theThe Three Brothers and the Chinese Princess 233ON THE FRAMEDoctor22.225Green Ears Everywhere: Children Running ThroughON CHILDRENshy .238238I used to beBirdsong brings relief . 243RUNNING THROUGHGreen Ears239
The way of love is not . .243Let your throat-song . 244I have phrases and whole pages . 244You've so distractedI'm Not Saying This Right 244The Least Figure 245me . . 244I reach for a piece of wood . . . 24523. Being Woven: Communal PracticeONBEING WOVEN246Of Being WovenThe Waterwheel 247The Granary Floor 248Donkey 250Elephant in the Dark 252246A Song About a24. Wished-ForSong: Secret PracticesONSECRECY253A Wished-For Song253A Basket ofFresh Bread 254When We Pray Alone 256One Who WrapsHimself 257Deliberation 258The Private Banquet 259We are the night ocean . z6oWhich is worth more, acrowd . 26025.Majesty: This We Have NowMAJESTY 261This We Have Now 261The Visions ofDaquqi 262The Worm's Waking 265The Freshness 266Judge a Moth by the Beauty of Its Candle 266The morning windspreads . . . 267Slave, be aware . . . 267ONz6. Evolutionary Intelligence: Say I Am YouA Dove in the Eaves 268We have thisIn theway of talking . . 270This piece of food . 270slaughterhouse of love . 270The Witness, the Darling 270In the Arc of Your Mallet 271Unmarked Boxes 272The Milkof Millennia 273The You Pronoun 273Birdsong from Insidethe Egg 274Say I Am You 275ONEVOLVING26827. The Turn: Dance in Your BloodTHE TURN 277Inside water, a waterwheel . 278A secret turning in us . 278You have said what you are . 278This moment this love comes to rest . . 278Keep walking, thoughthere's no place . . . 278Walk to the well . . . 2791circle yournest . 279No better love than love . 279Some nights stayup . . 2791 am so small . 279When you feel your lips . 280The sun is love . 280Something opens our wings . . . 280Heldlike this . . . 280I stand up, and this one of me . . . 280I haveON
Real value comes with madness .lived on the lip . 28iDance, when you're broken open . 281Notes283A Note on These Translations and a Few RecipesReferences 29729028i
-;t On RumiPersians and Afghanis call Rumi "Jelaluddin Balkhi." He was bornSeptember 30, I107, in Balkh, Afghanistan, which was then part ofthe Persian empire. The name Rumi means "from Roman Anatolia."He was not known by that name, of course, until after his family, fleeing the threat of the invading Mongol armies, emigrated to Konya,Turkey, sometime between iZi and izzo. His father, BahauddinWalad, was a theologian and jurist and a mystic of uncertain lineage.Bahauddin Walad's Maarif, a collection of notes, diarylike remarks,sermons, and strange accounts of visionary experiences, has shockedmost of the conventional scholars who have tried to understand them.He shows a startlingly sensual freedom in stating his union with God.Rumi was instructed in his father's secret inner life by a former student of his father, Burhanuddin Mahaqqiq. Burhan and Rumi alsostudied Sanai and Attar. At his father's death Rumi took over the position of sheikh in the dervish learning community in Konya. His lifeseems to have been a fairly normal one for a religious scholar-teaching, meditating, helping the poor-until in the late fall of 1244 whenhe met a stranger who put a question to him. That stranger was thewandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz, who had traveled throughout theMiddle East searching and praying for someone who could "enduremy company." A voice came, "What will you give in return?" "Myhead!" "The one you seek is Jelaluddin of Konya."The question Shams spoke made the learned professor faint to theground. We cannot be entirely certain of the question, but accordingto the most reliable account Shams asked who was greater, Muhammad or Bestami, for Bestami had said, "How great is my glory,"whereas Muhammad had acknowledged in his prayer to God, "We donot know You as we should."
Rumi heard the depth out of which the question came and fell tothe ground. He was finally able to answer that Muhammad wasgreater, because Bestami had taken one gulp of the divine and stoppedthere, whereas for Muhammad the way was always unfolding. Thereare various versions of this encounter, but whatever the facts, Shamsand Rumi became inseparable. Their Friendship is one of the mysteries. They spent months together without any human needs, transported into a region of pure conversation. This ecstatic connectioncaused difficulties in the religious community. Rumi's students felt neglected. Sensing the trouble, Shams disappeared as suddenly as he hadappeared. Annemarie Schimmel, a scholar immersed for forty years inthe works of Rumi, thinks that it was at this first disappearance thatRumi began the transformation into a mystical artist. "He turned intoa poet, began to listen to music, and sang, whirling around, hour afterhour."Word came that Shams was in Damascus. Rumi sent his son, Sultan Velad, to Syria to bring his Friend back to Konya. When Rumiand Shams met for the second time, they fell at each other's feet, sothat "no one knew who was lover and who the beloved." Shamsstayed in Rumi's home and was married to a young girl who had beenbrought up in the family. Again the long mystical conversation (sohbet) began, and again the jealousies grew.On the night of December 5, lz48, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seenagain. Most likely, he was murdered with the connivance of Rumi'sson, Allaedin; if so, Shams indeed gave his head for the privilege ofmystical Friendship.The mystery of the Friend's absence covered Rumi's world. Hehimself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus. It was there that he realized,Why should I seek? I am the same ashe. His essence speaks through me.I have been looking for myself!The union became complete. There was full fana, annihilation inthe Friend. Shams was writing the poems. Rumi called the huge collection of his odes and quatrains The Works of Shams of Tabriz.After Shams's death and Rumi's merging with him, another companion was found, Saladin Zark ub, the goldsmith. Saladin became
the Friend to whom Rumi addressed his poems, not so fierily as toShams, but with quiet tenderness. When Saladin died, HusamChelebi, Rumi's scribe and favorite student, assumed
-;t On Rumi Persians and Afghanis call Rumi "Jelaluddin Balkhi." He was born September 30, I107, in Balkh, Afghanistan, which was then part of the Persian empire. The name Rumi means "from Roman Anatolia." He was not known by that name, of course, until after his family, flee-ing the threat of the invading Mongol armies, emigrated to Konya,
