Rumi’s love poems are beautiful, and they make me wish I could read Farsi. But here are some beautiful translations into English. The depth of his poetry makes me drunken at times.
You Found Me
(translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)
You found me once again,
you thief of hearts. In drunken ecstasy,
you searched the bazaar and found me.
Even through sleepy-lidded, love-drunk eyes,
you spotted me. I ran to the tavern.
You found me.
Why do I run when no one can escape you?
Why hide when you’ve found me a hundred times?
I thought I could lose you in a crowd of people.
But you find me even in crowds of secrets,
even behind my own masks.
What a blessing to be sought and found by your eyes.
What luck to be caught in your twists and turns—
loving seer, persistent seer,
towering cypress of countless gardens,
I was pulling a thorn from my foot
when you found me.
You showered me with flowers
from your fertile beds.
Dear nightingale,
your melodies opened my ears.
Like a ladle wanting its fill of light,
I plunged into the moon’s halo.
At the bottom of that bottomless pot, you found me.
Like a deer fleeing a lion, I ran through the desert.
Deep in the mountains, you found me.
Wounded, I shed my blood on every path.
You followed the drops and found me.
I was a hooked fish writhing in the waves.
At the end of the line, you found me.
You roam the skies and catch galloping deer.
With all that skill and patience,
you found me.
The moment you found me,
you gave me a cup brimming with Love’s wine,
heavy enough to match the weight on my soul.
Every sip lightened it.
Every sip, a balm.
I drank till empty.
My soul took flight.
I have no mind, no ear, no tongue today.
The source of thought and word found me.
A Moment of Happiness
A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden’s beauty
and the birds singing.
The stars will be watching us,
and we will show them
what it is to be a thin crescent moon.
You and I unselfed, will be together,
indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.
The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as we laugh together, you and I.
In one form upon this earth,
and in another form in a timeless sweet land.
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
Let’s Love Each Other
(translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)
Let’s love each other,
let’s cherish each other, my friend,
before we lose each other.
You’ll long for me when I’m gone.
You’ll make a truce with me.
So why put me on trial while I’m alive?
Why adore the dead but battle the living?
You’ll kiss the headstone of my grave.
Look, I’m lying here still as a corpse,
dead as a stone. Kiss my face instead!
The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.
The Ship Sunk in Love
Should love’s heart rejoice unless I burn?
For my heart is love’s dwelling.
If you will burn your house, burn it, love!
Who will say,
‘It’s not allowed’?
Burn this house thoroughly!
The lover’s house improves with fire.
From now on I will make burning my aim;
From now on I will make burning my aim,
for I am like the candle: burning
only makes me brighter.
Abandon sleep tonight;
traverse for one night
the region of the sleepless.
Look upon these lovers who have become
distraught and like moths have died
in union with the one beloved.
Look upon this ship of God’s creatures
and see how it is sunk in love.
The Moment You Left Me
(translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)
The moment you left me,
sweetness was stolen from my tongue.
I turned to wax, burned like a candle
all night, scorched by fire,
no honey.
No way to reach you,
no way to touch your beauty.
My body lies here in ruins.
My soul, a night owl.
The Alchemy of Love
You come to us
from another world
From beyond the stars
and void of space.
Transcendent, Pure,
Of unimaginable beauty,
Bringing with you
the essence of love
You transform all
who are touched by you.
Mundane concerns,
troubles, and sorrows
dissolve in your presence,
Bringing joy
to ruler and ruled
To peasant and king
You bewilder us
with your grace.
All evils
transform into
goodness.
You are the master alchemist
You light the fire of love
in earth and sky
in heart and soul
of every being.
Through your loving
existence and nonexistence merge.
All opposites unite.
All that is profane
becomes sacred again.
There is a candle in the heart of man, waiting to be kindled.
In separation from the Friend, there is a cut waiting to be
stitched.
O, you who are ignorant of endurance and the burning
fire of love–
Love comes of its own free will, it can’t be learned
in any school.
When your chest is free of your limiting ego,
Then you will see the ageless Beloved.
You can not see yourself without a mirror;
Look at the Beloved, He is the brightest mirror.
Love isn’t the work of the tender and the gentle;
Love is the work of wrestlers.
The one who becomes a servant of lovers
is really a fortunate sovereign.
Don’t ask anyone about Love; ask Love about Love.
Love is a cloud that scatters pearls.
Your love lifts my soul from the body to the sky
And you lift me up out of the two worlds.
I want your sun to reach my raindrops,
So your heat can raise my soul upward like a cloud.