The Love Poems of Rumi

Behind a blood-stained curtain, love has spread its
gardens.
Lovers are busy with the beauty of the love that is
beyond explanation.
Intellect says: The six directions are the limit,
there is nothing beyond them.
Love says: There is a road, and I have journeyed on it
many times.'
Love detected markets beyond that market.
Intellect says: Do not set foot on the land of
annihilation;
There is nothing there but thorns.
Love says: Those thorns you feel are only inside you!
Be silent! remove the thorn of existence from the foot
of the heart;
So that you may see the gardens within.

Only sweet-voiced birds
are imprisoned.
Have you ever seen
Owls being kept in cages?





Where is that
Moon that never
rises or sets?
Where is that soul
that is neither with nor without us?
Don't say it is here
or there. All creation is Him but
for the eyes that can see.





Soul is like a clear
mirror; the body is dust on it.
Beauty in us is not perceived, for we are
under the dust.





The Science of Truth
disappears in the Sufi's
knowledge. When will
mankind understand this saying?





The tale of love must be
heard from love itself.
For like a mirror
it is both mute and expressive.





We search this whole world for great untying
of what was wed to us with birth,
but it gets untied at dying.
We sleep beside a stream, thirsty.
Cursing and unlucky at our entire lives,
we finish up in a niche of a ruin,
inches away from the treasures...





Friends,
There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled. How long can you
beg and bargain
for material things of this world
while Love is waiting?

How long before
You can rise beyond
how I am and what I am?

Are you fleeing from Love
because of a single humiliation?

In Love,
there is no dogma and no heresy:
Beloved created when nothing existed.
And since we are actually nothing,
what are possessions, houses, or materials?

Friends,
If you could get rid
of yourself just once,
the secret of secrets
would open to you.
The face of the unknown,
hidden beyond the universe
would appear on the
mirror of your perception.

If you can distance yourself
from your selfish self
all heavenly spirits
will stand ready to serve you. If you can finally hunt down
your own beastly self
you have the right
to claim Solomon's kingdom.

You are that blessed soul who
belongs to the garden of paradise
is it fair to let yourself
fall apart in a shattered house? You are the bird of happiness
in the magic of existence
what a pity! why you let
yourself be chained and caged?

Break free!
from this dark prison named body
soon you will see
you are the sage and the fountain of life.





Who is in the house of my heart,
I cried in the middle of the night.
Love said,
"It is I, but what are all these images that fill your
house?"
I said, they are the reflection of your beautiful face.
Love asked,
"But what is this image full of pain?"
I said, it is me lost in the sorrows of life
and showed Love my soul full of wounds.
Love offered me one end of a thread and said:
"Take it so I can pull you back
but do not break the delicate string."
I reached towards it but Love struck my hand.
I asked, why the harshness?
Love said,
"To remind you that whoever comes to Love's holy space,
proud and full of himself
will be sent away.
Look at Love with eyes of your heart."





If I told you about a land of love,
friends, would you follow me and come?
In that land are vineyards
that yield a deadly wine-
no glass can hold it.
Would you swallow it as a remedy?

The people there must suffer.
Would you serve the sweetest drink to others
and take the bitter drink yourself?

There are no moons or suns there.
Nothing waxes or wanes.
Would you surrender your plans
and forget about your materials?

Awaken!
don't become unconscious
in words and treasures
in ceremonies and materials

Awaken!
don't become a collector
of signposts and maps
of pointers and rules

When the door is opened
walk through!
don't just stand there
staring at the open doorway

There comes a time
when nothing is meaningful
except surrendering to Love

DO IT!




Inside the Great Mystery
that is we don't own
anything. What is this
competition we feel then,
before we go one at a time
through the same gate.





Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.
Love alone is capable of revealing the truth of Love
and being a Lover.
If you want to live,
die in Love;
die in Love if you want to remain alive.





Someday our souls will be one
And our union will be forever.
I know that everything I give you
Comes back to me.
So I give you my life,
Hoping that You
Will come back to me.





When soul lies down
in that grass,
the world's fool to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.





Deafened by the voice of desire
you are unaware
the Beloved lives in the core of your heart.
Stop the noise
and you will hear His voice in the silence.





Seek the wisdom that will untie your know
see the path that demands your whole being.
Leave that which is not, but appears to be
seek that which is, but is not apparent.





Inside the Great Mystery
that is we don't own
anything. What is this
competition we feel then,
before we go one at a time
through the same gate.





Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.
Love alone is capable of revealing the truth of Love
and being a Lover.
If you want to live,
die in Love;
die in Love if you want to remain alive.





Someday our souls will be one
And our union will be forever.
I know that everything I give you
Comes back to me.
So I give you my life,
Hoping that You
Will come back to me.





When soul lies down
in that grass,
the world's fool to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.





Deafened by the voice of desire
you are unaware
the Beloved lives in the core of your heart.
Stop the noise
and you will hear His voice in the silence.





Seek the wisdom that will untie your know
see the path that demands your whole being.
Leave that which is not, but appears to be
seek that which is, but is not apparent.