On the Night of Creation I was awake

by Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi

English version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
Original Language Persian/Farsi & Turkish

On the Night of Creation I was awake,
Busy at work while everyone slept.
I was there to see the first wink
and hear the first tale told.
I was the first one caught
in the hair of the Great Imposter.

Whirling around the still-point of ecstasy
I spun like the wheel of heaven.

How can I describe this to you?
You were born later.

I was a companion of that Ancient Lover;
Like a bowl with a broken rim
I endured his tyranny.
Why shouldn't I be as lustrous as the King's cup?
I have lived in the room of treasures.
Why shouldn't this bubble become the sea?
I am the secret that lies at its bottom...

Shhhh... no more words
Hear only the voice within.
Remember, the first thing He said was:
"We are beyond words."

-- from A Garden Beyond Paradise: Love Poems of Rumi, by Jonathan Star / Shahram Shiva

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On the Night of