"I Met One Traveling"

In the evening between sleep and awakening,
I met one traveling. He was the light of

consciousness. His body was soul, his pure
wisdom apparent in his beautiful face. He

praises me for a while, then scolds, "You
sit on the seven-sky throne, in prison.

The sign of Gemini has set a table for you,
yet you stick your head down a drainhole

again. Essence is not nourished with food
and sleep. Do no one any harm in this

timefield of short crops, where what you
sow comes back up very quickly! You try to

accomplish things, to win, to reach goals.
This is not the true situation. Put the

whole world in ambition's stomach, it'll
never be enough. Assume you get everything

you want. Assume you have it now. What's
the point? The next moment, you die.

Friend, the youth you've lived is ending.
You sleep a drunken dreamless sleep with no

sense what morning you could wake inside."

-- Ghazal (Ode) 3107
Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999

Rumi-nations

"Ashes, Wanderers"

In this battle we do not hold
a shield in front to us. When

we turn in sama, we do not hear
the flute or the tambourine.

Underneath these feet we become
nazar, the guide's glance, ashes,

wanderers: as the moon diminishes
every day and then it's gone, to

come back changed. Send for the
planet Venus to play here! Flute,

drum, and strings are not enough.
No. Who but these musicians could

stand the heat that melts the sun?

Rumi

-- Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999