Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi

13th Century

About Jelaluddin Rumi

Timeline (1207 - 1273)

Jelaluddin Rumi, Jelaluddin Rumi poetry, Muslim / Sufi, Muslim / Sufi poetry, poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry, poetry

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English version by
Coleman Barks

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

Inner Wakefulness

Themes

Dawn

Death

Sexual Union

Recommended Books

	Delicious Laughter: Rambunctious Teaching Stories from the Mathnawi of Jelaluddin Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks
	East Window: Poems from Asia, Translated by W. S. Merwin
	The Essential Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks
	The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia, with Lectures by Inayat Khan, Translated by Coleman Barks
	Holy Fire: Nine Visionary Poets and the Quest for Enlightenment, Edited by Daniel Halpern

More >>

This place is a dream
only a sleeper considers it real
then death comes like dawn
and you wake up laughing
at what you thought
was your grief

A man goes to sleep in the town
where he has always lived
and he dreams
he's living in another town
in the dream he doesn't remember
the town he's sleeping in his bed in
he believes the reality
of the dream town
the world is that kind of sleep

Humankind is being led
along an evolving course,
through this migration
of intelligences
and though we seem
to be sleeping
there is an inner wakefulness,
that directs the dream
and that will eventually
startle us back
to the truth of
who we are

-- from The Essential Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Jelaluddin Rumi

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World