Thursday, March 08, 2007

Another Great Master: Jalaludin Rumi

I have loved Rumi since ... well, I can't remember when. He is timeless. No one expresses love, longing and the pain of yearning like Rumi does.

" What's the lover to do
but humiliate himself,

If he kisses your hair,
don't wonder why."
*******

"I've broken through to longing
now, filled with a grief I have
felt before, but never like this."
*******

"The center leads to love.
Soul opens the creation core,
Hold on to your particular pain,
That too can take you to God."
************

My Lips Got Lost

My lips got lost on the
way to the kiss -
that's how drunk I
was.

Luckily though I still connected
with the most tender part
of her.

The moon conceived - what
a wild looking baby
we are going to
have.

Okay, I'll Do It

Okay, I will do it:
Sing longer songs tonight because
sometimes
You're just damn hard to please,
And I guess I am
still courting you, trying to get
into your soul's knickers.

*****And I thought Hafiz was cheeky...
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2 comments:

Niz said...

The Persian Sage: Kahlil Gibran

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love. When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

P.S. Banned in our good ol' nation.

The Bengali Poet Laureate: Rabindranath Tagore

Unending Love

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times...
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age old pain,
It's ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star, piercing the darkness of time.
You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played along side millions of lovers,
Shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting,
the distressful tears of farewell,
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

9:44 AM
the Anomaly said...

Thank you Niz. You have quoted 2 of my most treasured poets Gibran & Tagore. Gibran's "The Prophet" is always by my side and is a constant source of guidance and solace. Have you read his beautiful "Broken Wings"?

8:46 PM

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