Rumi by Coleman Barks

Aks Mistar?

I am so small. I can barely be seen.
How can this great love be inside me?

Look at your eyes. They are small,
but they see enormous things.

Landscape with Clouds

This is how I would die
into the love I have for you:

as pieces of cloud
dissolve in sunlight.

The following four translations by Coleman Barks have never been published.

All Jelaluddin Rumi translations presented here © Coleman Barks

Nineteen Boys

A swift stream never gets bored

with the fish that swim in it.

Nor do those fish weary

of feeling the flow around them.

No. This world loves its lovers,

and those lovers never tire of being

so dear and near what bears them along.

Bus Window

You are an ordinary human being.

That simplicity is better

than all existence.

Overcome with loss,

your drowning is a glory.

You say, Everything I own is dust,

but the angels envy your dust.

The Village of Lash-I-Jouayn

Find your place and close your eyes,

so your heart can start to see.

When you give up being self-absorbed,

your being becomes a great community.

Stepping Stones

I love the soul that lets my soul

stay healthy, growing

like an orchard, a garden.

He brings symbols through me

to show the world.

Then at other times,

he clears my consciousness

to be transparent like himself.

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