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Jalaladdin Rumi

john baker, December 20th, 2006. 2 comments. Filed under literature, politics, quotations, writing.

UNESCO has designated 2007 as the “Year of Rumi” to mark the 800th anniversary of the birth of the mystical poet Jalaladdin Rumi. He was the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order. Below is one of his poems translated into English:

The Taste of Morning

Time’s knife slides from the sheath,
as fish from where it swims.

Being closer and closer is the desire
of the body. Don’t wish for union!

There’s a closeness beyond that. Why
would God want a second God? Fall in

love in such a way that it frees you
from any connecting. Love is the soul’s

light, the taste of morning, no me, no
we, no claim of being. These words

are the smoke the fire gives off as it
absolves its defects, as eyes in silence,

tears, face. Love cannot be said.

Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

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2 Responses to “Jalaladdin Rumi”

  1. bloglily says:
    20th December 2006 at 7:37 pm

    That’s just spectacular. “Don’t wish for union!/There’s a closeness beyond that” strikes me as something one could spend a lifetime understanding. Thank you John.

    jb says: Yes, it is good. Especially as we tend to think that this kind of philosophy is modern.

  2. neesti says:
    23rd December 2006 at 3:31 pm

    nice!
    visit:
    http://SunlightGroup.blogspot.com

    for Rumi’s works.

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