RUMI
from
Stay Close my Heart
Not all sugarcanes have sugar, not all abysses a peak;
Not all eyes possess vision, not every sea is full of pearls.
O nightingale, with your voice of dark honey! Go on lamenting!
Only your drunken ecstasy can pierce the rock’s hard heart!
Surrender yourself, and if you cannot be welcomes by the Friend,
Know that you are rebelling inwardly like a thread.
With Love
With love bitter things seem sweet
With love bits of copper are made gold
Without love soft wax hardens like iron
With love poison turns into honey.
By the Moving, Omnipotent and Everlasting God
For from the moment that you journeyed forth,
we became separated from sweetness like wax;
All the night we are burning like candles,
paired to his flame and deprived of honey.
HAFIZ
from
Drunk with Grief
I'am drunk with grief of love for Winehouse Friend of mine:
On my wounded heart you glance arrows of grief's design.
From mouth's box of honey lay a lotion on Hafiz's heart,
For it's bleeding from that knife like glance, a stinging sign.
from
The Divan of Hafiz
Fair wind, be kind - tell that lovely gazelle who it was
That made me wander distraught across desert sands and mountain cliffs.
The seller of sweets, may she have long life -
Why is she not generous to this parrot longing for honey?
from
The Feast of Spring
The honey-dew thy charm might borrow,
Thy lip alone to me is sweet;
When thou art absent, faint with sorrow
I hide me in some lone retreat.
Why talk to me of power or fame?---
What are those idle toys to me?
Why ask the praises of my name?
My joy, my triumph is in thee!
from
CXXIX
At harshness I have ceased to grieve, for none to light can bring
A rose that is apart from thorns, or honey void of sting.
The framework of this mortal form may rot within the mold,
But in my soul a love exists which never shall grow cold.
from
Memory
Am I wrong to be contented in the sunlight to rehearse
Pleasant tales of love and lovers in my honey-laden verse ?
