Ready to drink every flame

25Mar/082

rocking and rolling
what have you been drinking
please let me know

you must be drunk
going house to house
wandering from street to street

who have you been with
who have you kissed
who's face have you been fondling

you are my soul
you are my life
i swear my life and love is yours

so tell me the truth
where is that fountainhead
the one you've been drinking from

don't hide this secret
lead me to the source
fill my jug over and over again

last night i finally caught
your attention in the crowd
it was your image filling my dream

telling me to stop this wandering
stop this search for
good and evil

i said my dear prophet
give me some of
that you've drunk for ecstasy of life

if i let you drink you said
any of this burning flame
it will scorch your mouth and throat

your portion has been
given already by heaven
ask for more at your peril

i lamented and begged
i desire much more
please show me the source

i have no fear
to burn my mouth and throat
i'm ready to drink every flame and more

Rumi - Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi - Fountain of Fire"
Cal-Earth Press, 1995

Paul Maurice Martin
March 26th, 2008 - 14:38

Yet certainly some of what we have to drink is more sustaining and some less. Think, for example, of people born into circumstances where poverty, lack of education or violence made their own potential to write poetry something that wasn’t realized.
Sidhusaaheb
March 26th, 2008 - 22:04

Ketya dookh, bhookh sad maar
Eh bhi daat teri daataar

- From the Guru Granth Sahib

(As far as I understand, this implies that all kinds of adversities are as much a gift from the Almighty as the happier times are.)

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Jahane Rumi In search of the unsearchable: O, my soul! where would you find your house?