Friday, May 27, 2011

quatrain 511

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #511:
The clear bead at the center changes everything.
There are no edges to my loving now.

I've heard it said there's a window that opens
from one mind to another,

but if there's no wall, there's no need
for fitting the window, or the latch.

version by Coleman Barks
Open Secret, Threshold Books, 1984

His sweet water cleansed my soul
and removed its every sorrow.
Now we are joined in perfect union.

They say love opens a door
from one heart to another;
But if there is no wall
how can there be a door?

version by Jonathan Star
"A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
Bantam Books, 1992

Labels: ,

Thursday, May 19, 2011

quatrain 758

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #758:
any one in love
will have no religion
in the religion of love
there is no heresy or faith
love know no
body heart or soul
there is only
oneness and no more

translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame, Cal-Earth Press, 2001

Be certain
in the religion of Love
there are no
believers or unbelievers.
Love embraces all.

translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1999

Labels: ,

Friday, May 06, 2011

quatrain 569

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #569:

This moment this love comes to rest in me,
many beings in one being.
In one wheat-grain a thousand sheaf stacks.
Inside the needle's eye, a turning night of stars.

version by Coleman Barks, from a translation by John Moyne
"Unseen Rain", Quatrains of Rumi, Threshold Books, 1986



O how the Beloved fits inside my heart;
Like a thousand souls in one body,
A thousand harvests in one sheaf of wheat,
A thousand whirling heavens
in the eye of a needle.

version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
"A Garden Beyond Paradise", The Mystical Poetry of Rumi, Bantam Books, 1992

Labels: ,