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. …
Hafez: The Desert of Love
Translation: Lions turn to foxes in the desert of your love What a road! there is no danger which does not lurk there. Original: شیر در بادیه عشق تو روباه شود آه از این راه که در وی خطری نیست که نیست Translation: The ups and downs of the desert of love are…
Blow winds, blow
Ḥallāj: Translation (a bit of license taken): O wind of the dawn, I say to the gazelle it only makes me thirstier, the water of this well I have a beloved whose love lives within me And if she likes, she walks on my cheeks as well Her spirit is my spirit and my…
Cristina Branco and Hafez
Cristina Branco “Vida Triste” Translation: Condemned to live sad Is he who loves much. You, my heart, never withstood The love that the pain inflames. Again my tortured heart Sought shelter in thy breast, uselessly; No one will console the burning thirst Nor is it is satisfied with the delights of passion. And always, for…
Love’s Martyr: Qutb ad-Din Bakhtiar Kaki
The great Indian Sufi shaykh, disciple of Mu’in ad-Din Chisti and master to Baba Farid, is said to have heard the following verses during a qawwali performance: كشتگان خنجر تسليم را هر زمان از غيب جان ديگر است For the victims of the dagger of surrender There is new life at…