Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Moment by moment you await understanding
and spiritual perception,
peace and good to arrive from nonexistence.
Nonexistence, then, is God's factory
from which He continually produces goods.
He has caused what is nonexistent
to appear magnificently existent,
while the truly existent He has caused to appear as nonexistent.
He has hidden the Sea, yet made the foam visible;
He has concealed the Wind, but displayed the dust.
The dust whirls in the air higher than a minaret:
does it rise by itself? You see the dust borne high,
but the Wind you don't see, although you can surmise it.
You see the white-capped waves tumbling in every direction,
but without the Sea the foam has no way to move.
You see the foam by sense perception and the Sea by induction:
just as speech is manifest and thought is hidden.

-- Mathnawi V:1022; 1024; 1026-1031
            Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
            "Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
            Threshold Books, 1996

Ho, saki, haste, the beaker bring,
Fill up, and pass it round the ring;
Love seemed at first an easy thing-
But ah! the hard awakening.

So sweet perfume the morning air
Did lately from her tresses bear,
Her twisted, musk-diffusing hair-
What heart's calamity was there!

Within life's caravanserai
What brief security have I,
When momently the bell doth cry,
"Bind on your loads; the hour is nigh I"
Let wine upon the prayer-mat flow,
An if the taverner bids so;
Whose wont is on this road to go
Its ways and manners well doth know.
Mark now the mad career of me,
From wilfulness to infamy;
Yet how conceal that mystery
Whereof men make festivity?

A mountain sea, moon clouded o'er,
And nigh the whirlpool's awful roar-
How can they know our labour sore
Who pass light-burthened on the shore?
Hafiz, if thou wouldst win her grace,
Be never absent from thy place;
When thou dost see the well-loved face
Be lost at last to time and space.
Translator:
Arberry, A. J. (1947). Hafiz: Fifty poems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


 

if you can't go to sleep
my dear soul
for tonight
what do you think will happen

if you pass your night
and merge it with dawn
for the sake of heart
what do you think will happen

if the entire world
is covered with the blossoms
you have labored to plant
what do you think will happen

if the elixir of life
that has been hidden in the dark
fills the desert and towns
what do you think will happen

if because of
your generosity and love
a few humans find their lives
what do you think will happen

if you pour an entire jar
filled with joyous wine
on the head of those already drunk
what do you think will happen

go my friend
bestow your love
even on your enemies
if you touch their hearts
what do you think will happen

-- Ghazal 838
Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire"
Burning Gate Press, 1992  

welcome parrot, perched in paradise!
your splendid plumage bears a strange device,
a necklace of bright fire about the throat;
though heaven's bliss is promised by your coat,
the circle stands for hell: if you can flee
like Abraham from Nimrod's enmity,
despise these flames: uninjured you will tread
through fire if first you cut off Nimrod's head,
and when your fear of him has died put on
your gorgeous coat; your collar's strength has gone!
(Farid Ud-Din Attar)

your beloved is residing next door.
why are you searching, confused, in the desert? (Rumi)

gus!

do not question the dog of the companions of the Cave,
for he has a soul dedicated to love. (Moşibat-nāma)