One of the most popular and beautiful verses of the wonderful Amir Khusrau… Khusrau darya prem ka, ulti wa ki dhaar, Jo utra so doob gaya, jo dooba so paar. Oh Khusrau, the river of love Runs in strange ways. One who enters it drowns, And one who drowns, gets across. it is popularly performed alongside…
Where was I Last Night?
Translation: I don’t know what place it was, where I was last night, The dance of death whirled all around me, where I was last night A nymph-like beauty with tulip cheeks and a cypress body was wreaking havoc in the hearts, where I was last night God himself was the master of ceremonies, in that placeless…
Hafez and Basho
Basho A strange flower for birds and butterfliesthe autumn sky Glorious the moon . . . therefore our thanks dark clouds Come to rest our necks The first day of the year: thoughts come – and there is loneliness; the autumn dusk is here. None is travelling Here along this way but I,…
Did Lightning Flash?
Ibrahim Niasse Translation: Did lightning flash towards the meadows, gleaming? O grant me a person that when the lightning flashes, he weeps You only glimpse it weakly, woe to you, and you are inflamed with love And glistening tears are stilled in the hour of Life Recalling the days of youth which have passed And nothing remains…
Ramadan with Hafez
Bring a glass of that wine of love which cooks every raw one even though it’s the month of Ramadan زان می عشق کز او پخته شود هر خامی گر چه ماه رمضان است بیاور جامی Give me a few cups of that wine sold in the tavern of love even if it is the…
Near and Far
Ibn al-Fāriḍ لكَ قُرْبٌ مِنّي ببُعدِكَ عنّي وحنوٌّ وجدتهُ في جفاكا … فَتراءيتَ في سِواكَ لِعَينٍ بكَ قَرّتْ، وما رأيتُ سِواكا وكذاكَ الخَليلُ قَلّبَ قَبْلي طرفهُ حينَ راقبَ الأفلاكا You have nearness with me in your distance from me … In other…
The Religion of Love
In addition to Ibn ‘Arabi’s famous poem (see this post), the “religion of love,” the root of all religion and worship beyond all distinctions and differentiations, plays an important role in other Sufi poetry, especially that of Rumi, Hafez, and Ibn al-Fariḍ: Rumi ملت عشق از همه دین‌ها جداست عاشقان را ملت و مذهب خداست…
The hardest thing in the world…
ahh, who hasn’t felt like this… Translation: The hardest thing in the world is studied and learned well I tried to study your love Because I couldn’t understand it, I suffer and cry like a child Before the image of Christ I saw her crying one day Striking her chest because she was repenting…
Like a Candle…
from Figs and Thistles: First Fig BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light! Source: Poetry (June 1918). Hafez Translation: In faithfulness to your love, I am famous like the candle In…
Flee
❊ ففرّوا الى الله ❊ So flee to God… (Qur’an 51:50) اعوذ بك منك I seek refuge in You from You (Hadith) Rumi Flee to God’s Qur’an, take refuge in it there with the spirits of the prophets merge. The Book conveys the prophets’ circumstances those fish of the pure sea of Majesty. …