Ne me quitte pas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za_6A0XnMyw Original: Ne me quitte pas Il faut oublier Tout peut s’oublier Qui s’enfuit déjà Oublier le temps Des malentendus Et le temps perdu A savoir comment Oublier ces heures Qui tuaient parfois A coups de pourquoi Le coeur du bonheur Ne me quitte pas Ne me…
White Doves
Pombas Brancas Translation: White doves Flying high Scratching the shadows Of the large clouds There they go Doves that do not return They bring within Their wings In rosy beaks Scattered clouds On the sea Doves of my singing Merely singing Various recollections Coming on the paths Nobody knows Where they go The Doves that…
Rabi’ al-awwal: Burda and Fiyashiyyah
A beautiful performance of two of the most beautiful poems from the North African tradition. The first is from the first lines of the famous Qasidah al-Burda of Shaykh al-Busiri, while the second is from the beloved Fiyashiyyah of Sidi Bahloul Cherki. Listen to them back to back, the transition is lovely. The Burda:…
Love and Beauty, Unity and Multiplicity, Realization and Reason
Three of my favorite verses of Arabic poetry (the last of which is from Ibn al-Farid) form a lovely meditation on these three topics (Love, Unity, and Truth), when taken together. “Various positions have those who love from (mere) passion But I have a unique place, in which I dwell alone.” مذاهب…
When she begins to sway — لمّا بدا يتثنى
Another gem from al-Andalus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRGlzIhWgAY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GV6P3YSvrY Translation (of the most common version, in Arabic below): When she began to sway my Love’s beauty entranced me With a glance, she captured me the branch bends when it sways O my promise, O my wonder, None can console my complaint of love and…
Sidi Qaddur al-‘Alami: Qasida-Pleading | سيدي عبد القادر العلمي : قصيدة التوسل
Muwwál Modo Zerga -Casida _El Perdón Translation: Mine is not the power, nor the effort, nor the strength Neither mastery of fate nor any chance is mine From me, the request alone, from him, the acceptance And in this matter, there’s no turning back The one who commands me to be patient and to…
The Virgin Birth
Rumi The body is like Mary. Each of us has a Jesus, but so long as no pain appears, our Jesus is not born. If pain never comes, our Jesus goes back to his place of origin on the same secret path he had come, and we remain behind, deprived and without a share…
My heart became…
This amazing poem of Ibn ‘Arabi’s is often interpreted somewhat sentimentally, but the love he writes of is far more than mere sentiment, and the universalism he espouses is much more than mere coexistence. Among other things, it refers to a profound spiritual transformation in which opposites unite and the limitations of particular existence are…
Two ghazals of Hafez
No one has seen your face, and yet Thousands of rivals seek you; You’re still a bud and yet a hundred Nightingales entreat you. However far I am from you (May no one know that place!) I cannot help but hope that soon I’ll be in your embrace; And it’s not strange that…
Zen and the snowman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJI5gaWuf6w&nohtml5=False At the peak of my soul’s depths I sit in silent reverie The sun above, weather below The vast blue breathes in, out of me The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been…