Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi

“There is a way between voice and presence, where information flows.In disciplined silence it opens; with wandering talk it closes.”

“There came one and knocked at the door of the Beloved.And a voice answered and said, 'Who is there?'The lover replied, 'It is I.''Go hence,' returned the voice;'there is no room within for thee and me.'Then came the lover a second time and knocked and again the voice demanded,'Who is there?'He answered, 'It is thou.''Enter,' said the voice, 'for I am within.”

“Poems are rough notations for the music we are.”

“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”

“I want to see you.Know your voice.Recognize you when youfirst come 'round the corner.Sense your scent when I come into a room you've just left.Know the lift of your heel,the glide of your foot.Become familiar with the way you purse your lipsthen let them part, just the slightest bit,when I lean in to your spaceand kiss you.I want to know the joy of how you whisper "more”

“You're water. We're the millstone.You're wind. We're dust blown up into shapes.You're spirit. We're the opening and closing of our hands. You're the clarity.We're the language that tries to say it.You're joy. We're all the different kinds of laughing.”

“You have forgotten the Onewho doesn't care about ownership,who doesn't try to turn a profitfrom every human exchange.”

“You are so weak. Give up to grace.The ocean takes care of each wave till it gets to shore.You need more help than you know.”

“There is a secret medicine given only to those who hurt so hard they can't hope.The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.”

“Knowledge that is acquiredis not like this. Those who have it worry ifaudiences like it or not.It's a bait for popularity.Disputational knowing wants customers.It has no soul...The only real customer is God.Chew quietlyyour sweet sugarcane God-Love, and stayplayfully childish.”

“The same wind that uproots treesmakes the grass shine.The lordly wind loves the weaknessand the lowness of grasses.Never brag of being strong.The axe doesn't worry how thick the branches are.It cuts them to pieces. But not the leaves.It leaves the leaves alone.”

“There are thousands of winesthat can take over our minds.Don't think all ecstasiesare the same!Jesus was lost in his love for God.His donkey was drunk with barley.”

“Be empty of worrying.Think of who created thought!Why do you stay in prisonWhen the door is so wide open?”

“Don't try to steer the boat. Don't open shop for yourself. Listen. Keep silent. You are not God's mouthpiece. Try to be an ear, And if you do speak, ask for explanations.”

“Keep walking, though there's no place to get to.Don't try to see through the distances.That's not for human beings. Move within,But don't move the way fear makes you move.”

“Each moment from all sides rushes to us the call to love. We are running to contemplate its vast green field.Do you want to come with us?”

“For ages you have come and gonecourting this delusion.For ages you have run from the painand forfeited the ecstasy.So come, return to the root of the rootof your own soul.Although you appear in earthly formYour essence is pure Consciousness.You are the fearless guardianof Divine Light.So come, return to the root of the rootof your own soul.When you lose all sense of selfthe bonds of a thousand chains will vanish.Lose yourself completely,Return to the root of the rootof your own soul.You descended from Adam, by the pure Word of God,but you turned your sightto the empty show of this world.Alas, how can you be satisfied with so little?So come, return to the root of the rootof your own soul.Why are you so enchanted by this worldwhen a mine of gold lies within you?Open your eyes and come ---Return to the root of the rootof your own soul.You were born from the rays of God's Majestywhen the stars were in their perfect place.How long will you suffer from the blowsof a nonexistent hand?So come, return to the root of the rootof your own soul.You are a ruby encased in granite.How long will you decieve Us with this outer show?O friend, We can see the truth in your eyes!So come, return to the root of the rootof your own soul.After one moment with that glorious Friendyou became loving, radiant, and ecstatic.Your eyes were sweet and full of fire.Come, return to the root of the rootof your own soul.Shams-e Tabriz, the King of the Tavernhas handed you an eternal cup,And God in all His glory is pouring the wine.So come! Drink!Return to the root of the rootof your own soul.Soul of all souls, life of all life - you are That.Seen and unseen, moving and unmoving - you are That.The road that leads to the City is endless;Go without head and feetand you'll already be there.What else could you be? - you are That.”

“Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness.”

“We gather at night to celebratebeing human. Sometimes we call out lowto the tambourine. Fish drink the sea,but the sea does not get smaller! Weeat the clouds and evening light. Weare slaves tasting the royal wine.”

“Not only the thirsty seek the water, the water as well seeks the thirsty.”

“If we come to sleepwe are His drowsy onesAnd if we come to wakewe are in His handsIf we come to weepingwe are His cloud full of raindropsAnd if we come to laughingwe are His lightning in that momentIf we come to anger and battleit is the reflection of His wrathAnd if we come to peace and pardonit is the reflection of His loveWho are we in this complicated world?”

“We can't help being thirsty, moving toward the voice of water.”

“The lion is most handsome when looking for food.”

“You are the Truth from foot to brow. Now, what else would you like to know?”

“They say there is a doorway from heart to heart, but what is the use of a door when there are no walls?”

“I was a thorn rushing to be with a rose, vinegar blending with honey…Then I found some dirt to make an ointment that would honor my soul…Love says, “You are right, but don’t claim these changes. Remember, I am wind. You are an ember I ignite.”

“Love comes with a knife, not some shy question, and not with fears for its reputation!”

“Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along.”

“What you seek is seeking you.”

“Stars burn clearall night till dawn.Do that yourself, and a spring will rise in the dark with water your deepest thirst is for.”

“Some nights stay up till dawn, as the moon sometimes does for the sun. Be a full bucket pulled up the dark way of a well, then lifted out into light.”

“God picks up the reed-flute world and blows.Each note is a need coming through one of us,a passion, a longing pain.Remember the lipswhere the wind-breath originated,and let your note be clear.Don't try to end it.Be your note.”

“I, you, he, she, weIn the garden of mystic lovers,these are not true distinctions.”

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.You feel it, don't you?”

“For the thirst to possess your love,Is worth my blood a hundred times.”

“Bitter your acts, bitter am I,Kindness your deeds, kindness am I,Pleasant and gentle, so you are,Fine honeyed lips and sweet talker.”

“You try to be faithfulAnd sometimes you're cruel.You are mine. Then, you leave.Without you, I can't cope.And when you take the lead,I become your footstep.Your absence leaves a void.Without you, I can't cope.You have disturbed my sleep,You have wrecked my image.You have set me apart.Without you, I can't cope.”

“For without you, I swear, the townHas become like a prison to me.Distraction and the mountainAnd the desert, all I desire.”

“Oh sky, without me, do not change,Oh moon, without me, do not shine;Oh earth, without me, do not grow,Oh time, without me, do not go....Oh, you cannot go, without me.”

“Shams, my body is a candle touched with fire.”

“Without you the instruments would die.One sits close beside you. Another takes a long kiss.The tambourine begs, Touch my skin so I can be myself.Let me feel you enter each limb bone by bone,that what died last night can be whole today.Why live some soberer way, and feel you ebbing out?I won't do it.Either give me enough wine or leave me alone,now that I know how it isto be with you in constant conversation.”

“An eye is meant to see things.The soul is here for its own joy.A head has one use: For loving a true love.Feet: To chase after.Love is for vanishing into the sky. The mind,for learning what men have done and tried to do.Mysteries are not to be solved: The eye goes blindwhen it only wants to see why.A lover is always accused of something.But when he finds his love, whatever was lostin the looking comes back completely changed.”

“The ear participates, and helps arrange marriages;the eye has already made love with what it sees.The eye knows pleasure, delights in the body's shape:the ear hears words that talk about all this.When hearing takes place, character areas change;but when you see, inner areas change.If all you know about fire is what you have heardsee if the fire will agree to cook you!Certain energies come only when you burn.If you long for belief, sit down in the fire!When the ear receives subtly; it turns into an eye.But if words do not reach the ear in the chest, nothing happens.”

“No more words. In the name of this place we drink in with our breathing, stay quiet like a flower.So the nightbirds will start singing.”

“When someone is counting outgold for you, don't look at your hands,or the gold. Look at the giver.”

“What the sayer of praise is really praising is himself,by saying implicitly,My eyes are clear."Likewise, someone who criticizes is criticizinghimself, saying implicitly, "I can't see very wellwith my eyes so inflamed.”

“If the wine drinker has a deep gentleness in him,he will show that when drunk.But if he has hidden anger and arrogance,those appear.”

“God has allowed some magical reversal to occur,so that you see the scorpion pitas an object of desire,and all the beautiful expanse around itas dangerous and swarming with snakes.”

“All people on the planet are children, except for a very few. No one is grown up except those free of desire.”

“My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.”