merchimerch

sasha_khan picked another winner for the dailyrumi community. This one just grabs me and shakes me somehow:

I will never leave this house of light,
I will never leave this blessed town
for here I have found my love
and here I will stay for the rest of my life.
If this world turns into a sea of trouble
I will brave the waves and steer my mind's ship
to the safe shore of love.

If you are a seeker looking for profit go on
and may God be with you,
but I am not willing to exchange my truth,
I have found the heart and will never leave
this house of light.

-- Ghazal (Ode) 1653
Translated by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi

dailyrumi has given me another serendipitous moment. Today's poem seems so apt for so many aspects of my life right now.

believe me
i wasn't always like this
lacking common sense
or looking insane

like you
i used to be clever
in my days

never like this
totally enraptured
totally gone

like sharp shooters
i used to be
a hunter of hearts

not like today
with my own heart
drowning in its blood

nonstop asking and
searching for answers
that was then

but now
so deeply enchanted
so deeply enthralled

always pushing
to be ahead and above
since i was not yet hunted down
by this
ever-increasing love


translation by Nader Khalili

The fire that iron or gold needs-
would it be good for fresh quinces and apples?
The apple and quince are just slightly raw;
unlike iron, they need only a gentle heat.
But gentle flames are not enough for iron;
it eagerly draws to itself the fiery dragon's breath.
That iron is the dervish who bears hardship:
under the hammer and fire, he happily glows red.

-- Mathnawi II: 827-830
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

This is lovely, and speaks to a lot of different areas of my life at the moment. I think part of my emotional experiences lately have rooted from the fact that in some areas and at some times I'm quince, even when I want to convince myself I'm iron.