quatrain 276

From sunlight, a version of quatrain #276:

The marvelous sound
That comes from the sky – I am That.
The sweet fragrance
That comes from the garden – I am That.

The great beauty
That comes from the heart and soul
Until I leave . . . Wait!
I can’t leave – I am That.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva

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quatrain 45

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #45:

there is a soul
within your soul
seek it out
there is a tresure
in your mountain
seek it out
a mystic in motion
if that’s what you are
don’t seek out there
seek inside

Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame

There is a force within
Which gives you life –
     seek That.
In your body
Lies a priceless gem –
     seek That.
O wandering Sufi,
     if you want to find
     the greatest treasure
     Don’t look outside,
Look inside, and seek That.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise

quatrain 84

From sunlight, two further versions of quatrain #84, to add to the Houshmand version discussed at my thoughts on dreams:

don’t think too much
put yourself to sleep
thinking is a veil
on the face of the moon
your heart is like the moon
don’t cover it with thought
cast your thinking on the water

Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame

Don’t think. Don’t get lost in your thoughts.
Your thoughts are a veil on the face of the Moon.
That Moon is your heart,
     and those thoughts cover your heart.
So let them go.
     Just let them fall into the water.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise

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quatrain 210

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #210:

This Love is the king,
    yet a throne cannot be found.
It is the essence of the Koran
    yet a verse cannot be found.
Any lover hit by the Hunter’s arrow
    will bleed all over,
    yet a wound cannot be found.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise

This Love is a King
but his banner is hidden.
The Koran speaks the Truth
but its miracle is concealed.
Love has pierced with its arrow
the heart of every lover.
Blood flows but the wound is invisible.

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved

quatrain 334

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #334 to add to the Houshmand version discussed at living without me:

The Beloved looked at me
With compassion and said,
How can you go on living without me?
I said, I swear, like a fish out of water.
He said, Then why do you hold so tight
to the dry land?

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise

After being with me one whole night,
you ask how I live when you're not here.
Badly, frantically, like a fish trying to
breathe dry sand.
You weep and say,
but you choose that.

Version by Coleman Barks
"Unseen Rain"

quatrain 1408

From Sunlight, three versions of quatrain #1408, to add to the Houshmand version discussed under true gold:

O my Beloved!
Take me,
Liberate my soul,
Fill me with your love,
and release me from both worlds.

If I set my heart
On anything but you,
O fire, burn me from inside!

O my Beloved
Take away what I want,
Take away what I do,
Take away everything
that takes me from you.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise

take me in my love
take my soul
set me on ecstasy
take both of my worlds
if I rest my heart on
anything but you
throw me with fireball
take everything I hold

Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame

My Friend,
I offer You my life.
Accept me, make me drunk
and save me from both worlds.
Set me on fire
if my heart settles on anything
but You.

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved

quatrain 97

From Sunlight, three interpretations of Quatrain 97:

Our drunkenness does not come from wine.
The joy of our gathering
does not come from the harp or rubaab.
With no celestial beauty to fill our cup,
Without friends, without singing, without wine,
We burst out like madmen,
rolling drunk on the floor.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

We don't need wine to get drunk,
or instruments and singing to feel ecstatic.
No poets, no leaders, no songs,
yet we jump around totally wild.

Version by Coleman Barks
"Unseen Rain"
Threshold Books, 1986

i don't really need wine
to get drunk
i don't really need music
to feel delight
without a wine pal
music and dance
i'm intoxicated
happy and gone

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

quatrain 168

From Sunlight, two interpretations of Quatrain 168: 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight we go to that place of eternity.
This is the wedding night –
a never-ending union
of lover and Beloved.

We whisper gentle secrets to each other
and the child of the universe
takes its first breath.

-- Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This night there are no limits to what may be given.
This is not a night but a marriage,
a couple whispering in bed in unison the same words.
Darkness simply lets down a curtain for that.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"Unseen Rain" 
Threshold Books, 1986

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

quatrain 910

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #910:

I planted roses, but without you they were thorns.
I hatched peacock eggs. Snakes were inside.
Played the harp, sour music.
I went to the eighth heaven. It was the lowest hell.

Version by Coleman Barks and John Moyne
Unseen Rain
Quatrains of Rumi
Threshold Books, 1986

I plant some flowers without you, they become thorns.
I see a peacock, it turns into a snake.
I play the rubaab – nothing but noise.
I go to the highest heaven, it's a burning hell.

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

quatrain 55

From sunlight, three versions of quatrain #55:

Let the Lover be disgraceful, crazy,
absentminded. Someone sober
will worry about events going badly.
Let the Lover be.

version by Coleman Barks and John Moyne,
"Unseen Rain - Quatrains of Rumi", Threshold Books, 1986

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
we worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

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

All year round the lover is mad
Unkempt, lovesick, and in despair
Without love there is nothing but grief
In love... what else matters?

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

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

quatrain 677

From sunlight, a version of quatrain #677:

When I shed tears of blood,
You made me laugh.
When I was gone from this world,
You brought me back.
Now you ask,
What about your promises?
What promises?
You made me break them all.

-- Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

quatrain 1080

From sunlight, a version of quatrain #1080:

I want to hold you close,
like a harp,
playing the melodies of love.

But you would rather smash open this jar.
Well, here I am.
Here are the stones.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

quatrain 912

From sunlight, a version of quatrain #912. The Houshmand version is discussed at teacher and taught. The versions are so different that it's hard to believe they stem from the same original Farsi (Persian). I suspect an error in the numbering.

This silence is worth
More than a thousand lives,
This freedom worth
More than all the empires on earth.

To glimpse that truth within yourself,
For even just a moment, is worth
More than all heavens, all worlds,
All this, and all that.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

quatrain 598

From sunlight, a version of quatrain #598:

Without love,
all worship is a burden,
all dancing is a chore,
all music is mere noise.

All the rain of heaven may fall into the sea.

Without love,
not one drop could become a pearl.

-- Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

quatrain 784

From sunlight, a version of quatrain #784:

When you dance
the whole universe dances.
What a wonder,
I've looked
and now I cannot look away!
Take me or do not take me,
both are the same –
As long as there is life in this body,
I am your servant.

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

quatrain 1854

From sunlight, two further versions of quatrain #1854 to add to the Houshmand translation discussed at in search of water.

I took a journey
dead set to find
your true love
at any cost
at every stage I landed
I saw a head beheaded
I saw a life is lost

trans by Nader Khalili

I travelled everywhere,
following you,
looking for signs of where you had been –
They show me a house stacked with bodies,
heads strewn on the floor.

version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva

quatrain 729

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain # 729:

never say
no one knows the way
never say
profound humans
can't be found
just because
you're kept out of
heaven's secrets
you think everyone
is like you

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

You claim skill in every art
and knowledge of every science,
Yet you cannot even hear
what your own heart is telling you.

Until you can hear that simple voice
How can you be a keeper of secrets?
How can you be a traveller on this path?

-- Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

quatrain 269

From sunlight, two further interpretations of quatrain #269, to add to Houshmand's discussed at lovely one.

I see His face,
I see His smile –
There is my joy!
I feel His rage
I feel His painful blows –
There is my joy!

But what's this?
He has asked for my head!
At least He has asked me for something –
There is my joy!

-- Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992

I am in love not only
with his smile and radiant face
but also with his wrath and contempt.
He has asked for my head
I do not care if I lose it
what makes me ecstatic is
Him asking.

-- Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

quatrain 454

From sunlight, an interpretation of quatrain #454, to add to the translation by Houshmand discussed at winners and losers.

To that Beloved,
flower and thorn are one;
A verse of the Koran
And a Brahmin's thread are one.

Don't try to impress Him –
To that Beloved,
hero and fool are one.

-- Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992