If you can disentangle yourself from your selfish self.
all heavenly spirits will stand ready to serve you.
If you can finally hunt down your own beastly self you have the right to claim Solomon’s kingdom. You are that blessed soul who belongs to the garden of paradise.
Is it fair to let yourself fall apart in a shattered house? You are the bird of happiness in the magic of existence.
What a pity when you let yourself be chained and caged.
But if you can break free from this dark prison named body soon you will see you are the sage and the fountain of life.
translated by Nader Khalili JALALUD’DIN RUMI, born in 1207, in Afghanistan, produced a prolific range of inspiring and devotional poetry which encapsulates the sufi’s experience of union with the divine. The 13th Century was the era of the crusades; also the area where Rumi lived was under constant threat of Mongol invasion. The great upheavals Rumi faced during his life is said to have influenced much of his poetry.
Rumi met many of the great Sufi poets. As a young boy he met the Sufi Master, Attar. Attar is said to have commented this about Rumi:
“There goes a river dragging an ocean behind it.”
