Wood for His Fire - Rumi
If you don’t have the Beloved
why aren’t you looking for Him?
If you have the Beloved
why aren’t you rejoicing?
If the Friend is truly your friend
Why not stay with Him?
If the rebec does not wail,
Why not teach it how to sing?
If someone bars you from the truth,
Why not fight him
and his brother as well?
You sit quietly and say to yourself,
“Something strange is going on.”
The only thing strange
is that your best friend is a stranger.
You are the Sun of the world -
Why is your heart so black?
Why do you fall back
on your drab and stagnant ways?
Don’t stay melted like gold in a furnace -
Become a piece of jewelry!
The treasure of Unity is found
by those who look within.
Why not join your spirit to the one
who sits inside your heart?
Did Majnun ever love two Laylas?
Why seek more than one face and one cheek?
There is such a glorious moon
hiding in the shadows of your being.
Why not make it rise
with the power of a midnight prayer?
You have danced in the tavern for ages,
Love’s wine never slips from your hand,
Yet with each new sip
your soul is ravished like never before.
The wine I drink is the fire of love
And God Himself pours it into my mouth!
What use is your life
If your bones are not used
as wood for His fire?
I’ll leave you with that.
I could go on,
I could fill pages with these elegant verses
But this is a tale for the heart and soul,
not the lips.
Rumi– Version by Jonathan Star
From “Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved”
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997
Found here
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This is Rumi… This is Fire ! Everyone Masha Allah is aware, so no need for repititon. I was so glad when i read that Raza bought “A dance of sparks” (Raqs-e-Sharar) by Late. Dr. Annemarie Schimmel (d. 2003). Annemarie Schimmel was a scholar extraordinaire. i am literally short of words when i have to describe Schimmel’s scholarship. “Gabriel’s Wing” is another book by her.. There are many others… names i cannot recall right now. I wish i could present the whole set of books by Schimmel to Raza…. Schimmel is the top-knotch scholar on Indo-Muslim Culture. I heard her speak. She spoke as if in a trance. No words can describe that sound.. that flow of thought.. that depth of knowledge. She spent a whole life-time… and she mastered her subject. Read Annemarie Schimmel… cuz she understood the “heart” of Islam.. like few did.
Comment by Dastagir — April 15, 2008 @ 1:58 pm
Dastgir Saheb
thanks for the lovely comment and your wishes. I abslutely love Schimmel’s works and will re-post an old blog on her
She was an extraordinary woman and these days I am reading her autobiography translated by her old [German] friend who lives in Pakistan.
Comment by RR — April 15, 2008 @ 2:42 pm