by Rumi
36
When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you're not here, I can't go to sleep.
Praise God for these two insomnias!
And the difference between them.
82
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
549
We take long trips.
We puzzle over the meaning of painting or a book,
when what we're wanting to see and understand
in this world, we are that!
1078
Think that you're gliding out from the face of a cliff
like an eagle. Think you're walking
like a tiger walks by himself in the forest.
You're most handsome when you're after food.
Spend less time with nightingales and peacocks.
One is just a voice, the other just a color.
1082
For a while we lived with people
but we saw no sign in them of the faithfulness we wanted.
It's better to hide completely within
as water hides in metal, as fire hides in a rock.
1246
The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.
Translated by Coleman Barks
Photo Credit: Maree Clarkson, Watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm - 12" x 8"