November 4, 2007

The Treasure

O you who've gone on pilgrimage -
where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
he is next to your wall -
You, erring in the desert -
what air of love is this?
If you'd see the Beloved's
form without any form -
You are the house, the master,
You are the Kaaba, you! . . .
Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul's pearly essence
when you're the Sea of God?
That's true - and yet your troubles
may turn to treasures rich -
How sad that you yourself veil
the treasure that is yours!


~Rumi 'I Am Wind, You are Fire'
Translation by Annemarie Schimmel

2 comments:

Jon said...

Such a profound poem, full of the reverence for the immanent and the transcendent.

I've often wondered, since I know that Coleman Barks injects a lot of things that Rumi never wrote into his translations, what other translations sound and feel like... Is he just as inspiring, wild, free and honest?

Thanks for showing me the answer is YES!

John Huron said...

Lovely blog yyou have