If you don’t have the Beloved
why aren’t you looking for Him?
If you have the Beloved
why aren’t you rejoicing?
If the Friend is truly your friend
Why not stay with Him?
If the rebec does not wail,
Why not teach it how to sing?
If someone bars you from the truth,
Why not fight him
and his brother as well?
You sit quietly and say to yourself,
“Something strange is going on.”
The only thing strange
is that your best friend is a stranger.
You are the Sun of the world –
Why is your heart so black?
Why do you fall back
on your drab and stagnant ways?
Don’t stay melted like gold in a furnace –
Become a piece of jewelry!
The treasure of Unity is found
by those who look within.
Why not join your spirit to the one
who sits inside your heart?
Did Majnun ever love two Laylas?
Why seek more than one face and one cheek?
There is such a glorious moon
hiding in the shadows of your being.
Why not make it rise
with the power of a midnight prayer?
You have danced in the tavern for ages,
Love’s wine never slips from your hand,
Yet with each new sip
your soul is ravished like never before.
The wine I drink is the fire of love
And God Himself pours it into my mouth!
What use is your life
If your bones are not used
as wood for His fire?
I’ll leave you with that.
I could go on,
I could fill pages with these elegant verses
But this is a tale for the heart and soul,
not the lips.
Rumi– Version by Jonathan Star
From “Rumi – In the Arms of the Beloved”
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997
Found here
