Poetry Chaikhana Blog

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
by Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi

English version by Coleman Barks

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

— from Open Secret: Versions of Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks / Translated by John Moyne

/ Photo by koshyk /

I’m back. (I took an extra day to make room for the full moon and eclipse. Don’t want to mess with those…

—

I want to thank everyone for the many thoughtful emails and blog comments. I was profoundly moved by the number and warmth of the messages. Although I wasn’t able to respond individually to everyone, I read every note.

To express my heartfelt thanks, I am sending you this Valentine’s Day card:

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=1767921776517&source=jl999

Many blessings!

Ivan

PS – My dog, Koda, is shredding paper he’s stolen from the recycle bin. A comment on my recent writing activities…?

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi Afghanistan & Turkey (1207 – 1273) Timeline Muslim / Sufi

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi was born in Balkh, in what is now Afghanistan, on September 30, 1207. When he was still a young man, though, his family fled under the threat of a Mongol invasion, and after much traveling, finally settled in Konya, Turkey. The name Rumi means “the Roman,” that is, “from Roman Anatolia.”

Rumi followed the line of his father and his ancestors – scholars, theologians, and jurists. Until the age of thirty-seven he seems to have been a conventional teacher under the royal patronage. In 1244 he met the wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz. This recognition strengthened and galvanized his belief. His poetry filled with a longing to be the Friend, and close presence he first saw in Shams, later in Saladin Zarkub, the goldsmith, still later in his scribe, Husam. Rumi died December 17, 1273. During the last thirty years of his life he became a brilliant unfolding of that recognition, and a cause of its incandescence in others.

– from Open Secret: Versions of Rumi

More poetry by Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi

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