RUMI

To make a start there is this charming quatrain
of
Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi (# 1218 in my edition of the Divan):

Dar bagh shodam sabuh o gol michiam
Vaz didan-e baaghbaan hami tarsidam
Shirin sokhani ze baaghbaan be shenidam
Gol raa cheh mahall keh baagh raa baghshidam

I was in the garden in the morning and I was gathering roses
And all the time I was afraid that the gardener would see me.
The gardener, however, only spoke these kind words:
‘A few roses are nothing as I give you the complete garden’.

Mawlana Rumi writes (# 84 in the edition of Foruzaanfar):

Chun gol hamaye tan khandam na az raahe dehaan tanhaa
Ziraa keh manam bi man baa shaah-e jahaan tanhaa

Like the rose, with my whole body I smile and not with my mouth alone;
Because I am, I without I, with the king of the world, alone.

Ai mash’ala-aawardah delraa besahar bordah
Jaan raa berasaan dar del delraa masataan tanhaa

O, bearer of the torch, ravisher of my heart until the early morning,
Lead my soul to my heart, do not take my heart alone!

Az khashm o hasad jaanraa bigaana makon baa del
Aan raa magozaar injaa vin raa bemakhaan tanhaa

Do not estrange my soul from my heart because of anger and envy,
That one, do not leave here and this one, do not invite alone!

Shaahaana payaami kon yak da’vate ‘aami kon
Taa kai bud ai soltaan ien baa to o aan tanhaa

Send a royal message, prepare a general invitation!
Until when, o king, this one with you and that one alone?

Chun dush agar emshab naayi o bebandi lab
Sad shur koniem ai jaan nakoniem foghaan tanhaa

If you, just like last night, do not come tonight and keep silent again,
We’ll cry out one hundred times, o soul, we do not lament alone!

Rumi writes, referring to the helping hand: (Foruzaanfar # 412):

The one who is able to make my soul intoxicated without wine, where is he?
And the one who is able to draw me outside of my soul and heart, where is he?

And the one by whom I swear, and I only swear on his head,
And the one who breaks my oath and my repentance, where is he?

And the one - early in the morning - who makes the souls cry out loud,
And the one whose grief has carried us away from our place, where is he?

He is the soul of souls - if he has no place, why would that be strange?
The one who searches for a cup and who is in our body, where is he?

The eyelids are only pretence and he has therefore capricious desires
And the one who from behind his eyelids wounds my heart, where is he?

The one who has closed the heart with a veil of light and gives visions to it,
And the one who has closed the veil of the heart with such a veil, where is he?

Reason is nothing compared to drunkenness; ‘why and when’ are ruined,
And the one who is intoxicated and is free from ‘why and when’, where is he?

The above sounds thus in Persian:

Aanke bi baade konad jaan-e maraa mast kojaast
Vaanke birun konad az jaan o delam dast kojaast

Vaanke saugand khoram joz besar-e u nakhoram
Vaanke saugand-e man o taubeyaam eshkast kojaast

Vaanke jaanhaa besahr na'ra zanaand azu
Vaanke maaraa ghamash az jaai bebardasht kojaast

Jaan-e jaanast o gar jaai nadaarad che ‘ajab
Ien ke jaami talabad dar tan-e maa hast kojaast

Ghamzeye cheshm bahaane-st o zaan su havasist
Vaanke u dar pas-e ghamze-st delam khast kojaast

Parde’e roshan del bast o khiaalaat namud
Vaanke dar parde chonin parde’-e del bast kojaast

‘Aql taa mast nashod chun o cheraa past nashod
Vaanke u mast shod az chun o cheraa rast kojaast

Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi has written several letters whereof a complete translation has appeared in the French language. Letter # 3 has, as far as I know, not yet been translated into English. It shows his love for the grandchild of his son, Sultan Valad. Here is a part of this letter:

God opens doors!

I hope that the same God Who has shown us the path of separation will show us the path of union. God, Whose majesty is great and Whose grace is infinite, has said: ‘God is the All-sufficient Witness’ (Q 4:79)…

The face and the image of our dear child, the honour of the community, the crown of the scholars and the searchers, the possessor of different types of knowledge and the close friend of the saints, who is a hidden saint, a jewel of the mine, the light of his congregation, the most respected of those who are there, Jamal ad-din – may God, the Elevated bless him and give him the highest degree of seeing Him, and give him certainty and favour him above all His servants near Him!

His joyful, sincere (sincere in his generosity) and blessed face is in our eyes during the day and the night. The sweetness of his company of this fine person is so precious to us that the dust of forgetfulness cannot (because of the passing of time) make his face invisible to the eyes of our heart. The behaviour of that dear one causes the disappearance of the length of time.

However, this infinite thirst that we experience as well as that immense hunger cannot diminish by the imagination alone; never are we in a session or in a dhikr circle without experiencing a longing for this lovely child.

We put our hope in the One Who is the Owner of all and of all graces, He Who satisfies all needs – His majesty is exalted! – so that all hindrances may disappear like in the case of the throne of Bilqis and the body of Idries and that he arranges all in such a way that our thirsty eyes receive new light because of seeing that lovely child and ‘He is capable to respond to our request’.