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We encountered the house of realization

Yunus Emre, Yunus Emre poetry, Muslim / Sufi, Muslim / Sufi poetry,  poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry by Yunus Emre
(1238 - 1320) Timeline

English version by
Kabir Helminski & Refik Algan

Original Language
Turkish

Muslim / Sufi
13th Century

We encountered the house of realization,
we witnessed the body.

The whirling skies, the many-layered earth,
the seventy-thousand veils,
we found in the body.

The night and the day, the planets,
the words inscribed on the Holy Tablets,
the hill that Moses climbed, the Temple,
and Israfil's trumpet, we observed in the body.

Torah, Psalms, Gospel, Quran --
what these books have to say,
we found in the body.

Everybody says these words of Yunus
are true. Truth is wherever you want it.
We found it all within the body.

 

 

-- from The Drop That Became the Sea: Lyric Poems of Yunus Emre, Translated by Kabir Helminski / Translated by Refik Algan

Amazon.com

 


/ Photo by The Wandering Angel /

Themes

  Mountain
  Night
  Sky
 
 


Recommended Books


The Drop That Became the Sea: Lyric Poems of Yunus Emre, Translated by Kabir Helminski / Translated by Refik Algan
Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, Edited by Alan Jacobs
The Poetry of Yunus Emre: A Turkish Sufi Poet, Translated by Grace Martin Smith
Quarreling with God: Mystic Rebel Poems of the Dervishes of Turkey, Translated by Jennifer Ferraro / Translated by Latif Bolat

 

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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

We encountered the house of realization,
we witnessed the body.


Not only is the sacred always present -- right here, right now -- but that holiness is actually felt within the body. It is perceived as an indescribable joy permeating all levels of awareness, including the physical body. Every cell feels awakened, alive, sanctified. The whole body, from the subtle to the physical, vibrates with delight.

I am reminded of Kabir, the great Indian poet, who sang:

How could I ever express
How blessed I feel
To revel in such vast ecstasy
In my own body?


The touch of the Divine is tangible, it is FELT...

 

 


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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2009 by Ivan M. Granger.
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