quatrain 1955

From Sunlight, two interpretations of Quatrain #1955:

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The birds have flown to freedom,
The cage lies empty.
Your happy songs bring to me the scent of heaven.
Please keep singing.

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

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birds are free from the cage
cage is empty from the birds
where have you flown from
to be so happy
I can smell eternity 
in your songs

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

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