Why do you stay in prison?

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
Rumi

Just A little Note

The poetry on this blog is by Rumi, Hafiz, Iqbal, Rehman Baba and Ibn Zauq, and are all devoted to the divine. Each verse in every poem connects our dismal being with the subliminal love for the Beloved.

The pleasure of reading Rumi and Hafiz could only be equated to quenching ones thirst by the elixir of tranquility. As Rumi said, "embark on this journey of love, it takes you from your self to yourself." Let the journey be filled with pure love.

Poems by Faiz, Ghalib, Rehman Baba and others depend on the perception of the reader.

My Beloved Liberate Me

Oh Beloved,
take me.
Liberate my soul.
Fill me with your love and
release me from the two worlds.
If I set my heart on anything but you
let fire burn me from inside.

Oh Beloved,
take away what I want.
Take away what I do.
Take away what I need.
Take away everything
that takes me from you.

STAY CLOSE, MY HEART

Stay close, my heart, to the one who knows your ways;
Come into the shade of the tree that allays has fresh flowers.
Don't stroll idly through the bazaar of the perfume-markers:
Stay in the shop of the sugar-seller.
If you don't find true balance, anyone can deceive you;
Anyone can trick out of a thing of straw,
And make you take it for gold
Don't squat with a bowl before every boiling pot;
In each pot on the fire you find very different things.
Not all sugarcanes have sugar, not all abysses a peak;
Not all eyes possess vision, not every sea is full of pearls.
O nightingale, with your voice of dark honey! Go on lamenting!
Only your drunken ecstasy can pierce the rock's hard heart!
Surrender yourself, and if you cannot be welcomes by the Friend,
Know that you are rebelling inwardly like a thread
That doesn't want to go through the needle's eye!
The awakened heart is a lamp; protect it by the him of your robe!
Hurry and get out of this wind, for the weather is bad.
And when you've left this storm, you will come to a fountain;
You'll find a Friend there who will always nourish your soul.
And with your soul always green, you'll grow into a tall tree
Flowering always with sweet light-fruit, whose growth is interior.

Rumi

You are in love with me, I shall make you perplexed.

Do not build much, for I intend to have you in ruins. If you build two hundred houses in a manner that the bees do; I shall make you as homeless as a fly. If you are the mount Qaf in stability. I shall make you whirl like a millstone.

Imagination Does Not Exist

You should come close to me tonight wayfarer

For I will be celebrating you.


Your beauty still causes me madness,

Keeps the neighbours complaining

When I start shouting in the middle of the night

Because I can't bear all this joy.


I will be giving birth to suns.

I will be holding forests upside down

Gently shaking soft animals from trees and burrows

Into my lap.


What you conceive as imagination

Does not exist for me.


Whatever you can do in a dream

Or on your mind-canvas


My hands can pull - alive - from my coat pocket.


But let's not talk about my divine world.


For what I most want to know

Tonight is:


All about

You.

For My Absent Lover

I gave up on the subject of my desires,
my love,
my passion.

I will miss you forever,
and love you forever

Gave up the path on which you walk,
no more would my being be the cause of your agony.

For a glimpse of you,
I would give up eternity

If only you asked!

The light of love will someday make you see
My endless love for you. Forever!

Why Abstain?

Why

Abstain from love

When like the beautiful snow goose

Someday your soul

Will leave this summer

Camp?

Why

Abstain from happiness

When like a skilled lion

Your heart is

Nearing

And

Will someday see

The divine prey is

Always

Near!

Faithful Lover

The moon came to me last night

With a sweet question.

She said,

"The sun has been my faithful lover

For millions of years.

Whenever I offer my body to him

Brilliant light pours from his heart.


Thousands then notice my happiness

And delight in pointing

Toward my beauty.

Hafiz,

Is it true that our destiny

Is to turn into Light

Itself?"

And I replied,

Dear moon,

Now that your love is maturing,

We need to sit together

Close like this more often

So I might instruct you

How to become

Who you

Are!

It Felt Love!

How Did the rose Ever open its heart


And give to this world All its Beauty?


It felt the encouragement of light

Against its Being,

Otherwise,

We all remain Too Frightened.

My Uncertainty

My heart knows, and My soul knows
what hides behind the fogged mirror,

My beloved knows,
what is hidden in His lovers heart.

why then the fear of seeing it?
why then the agony of knowing it?
why then the delay of embracing it?

Dervish raise the curtains for my meeting with the Beloved.
They say the taste of this nights meeting is better then a hundred nights.
Then Let the lovers be as Rumi begged, they were in each other all along!

Thy Forgiveness

My sins did not find refuge in the whole world,
the only place where I found shelter - O my Lord! - was Thy forgiveness.

Na kaheen jahaan mein amaan mili,
jo amaan mili to kahaan mili,
Meray jurm-i khana kharab ko teray afvi banda nawaz mein.

Iqbal

Love as an essential ingredient for development of the self.
Love is the foundation of life,
Love is the flashing sword of death.
The hardest rocks are shivered by love’s glance.”

I am a lover and I deal in Love - Rehman Baba

Sow flowers,
so your surroundings become a garden.
Don’t sow thorns; for they will prick your feet.
We are all one body.
Whoever tortures another, wounds himself.

Life Brought Me So I Came (Deewan -e- ZAUK)

Life brought me so I came; death takes me away so I go
I came not on my own nor will I go with my will

There may be a few gamblers as bad as I am
Whatever move I made it proved to be very bad

It’s better that one should not get hooked to the charms of the world
However, what can one do when nothing can be accomplished without getting involved

Who has come to the rescue of someone, who’s about to leave this world!
You too keep moving till you can move on

O Zauq! I’m leaving this garden with a pinning for fresh air
Why should I care now whether zephyr blows or not!


aai Hayaat to aaye qaza le chali chaley
Apni Khushi se na aaye na apni khushi chaley

Kam hongey is bisaat par hum aisey bad qumaar
Jo chaal hum chaley woh nihayat buri chaley

Behtar to hai yehi ke na duniya se dil lagey
Par kya karein jo kaam na be dil-lagi chaley

Duniya ne kis ka raah-e-fanaa mein diya hai saath
tum bhi chaley chalo yunhi jab tak chali chaley

Jaatey Hawaa-e-shauq mein hain is chaman se Zauq
Apni balaa se Baad-e-Saba ab kabhi chaley

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Ask me not, my love.... :
Ask me not, my love, for the love of former days,
I had thought, with you around life 'uld be dazzling bright,
With your griefs to fill my heart, other griefs would vaporize,
Your beauty keeps the spring alive,
The world contains naught else but your starry eyes,
To own you is to own the fortune's richest prize.

It wasn't so; I simply wished it could be so!
Besides the griefs of love, there're other griefs in life,
Besides the joy of union there're other delights.
The dark, devilish spells, o'er several centuries cast,
Woven in silks and satins, in brocade finely wrought;
Human bodies for sale in every street and shop,
Bodies bathed in blood, splashed with gory spots,
I cannot help but see them all.

Your beauty still attracts the heart; but what to do?
There are other griefs in life,
Besides the joy of union, there're other delights.

Faiz is the best that Pakistan ever produced. His poetry is revolutionary yet has the essence of romanticism. One actually feels his grief and his longing for the union with the beloved. This has a double meaning: union with the divine as well as the ephemeral earthly love. FBJ

Mirza Assad ullah Ghalib

Come, so we may change
The laws of the heavens;
Let us alter the decree of destiny
By the circulation of the heavy goblet.

Let us enjoy the spectacle
With our eyes and heart;
With the humility of our heart and soul.
Let us transform our loss.

We will sit in the corner
And open the door;
We will turn the guard into the street
And throw him on the footpath.

If there is any seizing and holding
By the officer of the police, -we care not;
If we receive a present from the king
We shall return it to him.

If the sage speaks the same language
As ours, we would not talk to him;
If Khalil is our guest,
We would ask him to go away.

We would dismiss the boon companion,
The minstrel and the saqi from the assembly,
And turnout the experienced lady
Who manages our affairs?

Sometimes, with a show of courtesy
We will mingle our speech with grace,
And sometimes while snatching a kiss
We would turn our tongue in the mouth.

With the ardour of our breast
We will stop the breath of morning;
We will safeguard .the world from the affliction
Of the heat of the day.

The One I love is ...

O heart of mine why?

Why would you fall for this merciless lover

You cry at your abandonment,
moan at your loss,
hurt by your silence,

untie this knot,
break these chains,
find a new path, that will lead you to paradise,

A love that you deserve.
A lover that answers back in your voice.

Scattered

My desire for your touch has burned me.

Now its only ashes,

Oh merciful wind carry me...
blow me to my beloved...
let me be the dust of her path
let me be the soil of her garden

let the roses grow from my ashes,
They make her smile.

My beloved's smile is my eternal joy.............

Longing for your love

I yearn for your touch
longing for you, my beloved

how long have I waited for your love,
Yet my love remains unrequited
Just like the desert longs for a drop of rainfall
I yearn for your sweet eyes, your lips, your embrace.


I am your canvas, paint me as you like
I am your lover, take me as I am.

Sweet Drowning

Where will this heart take me now;

I know its drowning me,

let it be,

Oh! this sweet drowning,

let it be;

Let it drown me this time in the river of love

Don't leave me yearning on the banks of sorrow.

Rumi

Love is reckless; not reason.

Reason seeks a profit.

Love comes on strong,

consuming herself, unabashed.



Yet, in the midst of suffering,

Love proceeds like a millstone,

hard surfaced and straightforward.



Having died of self-interest,

she risks everything and asks for nothing.

Love gambles away every gift God bestows.



Without cause God gave us Being;

without cause, give it back again.

Rumi

I swear, since seeing Your face,

the whole world is a deception and fantasy

The garden is bewildered as to what is leaf

or blossom. The distracted birds

can't distinguish the birdseed from the snare.


A house of love with no limits,

a presence more beautiful than venus or the moon,

a beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart.

Rumi

“Don’t allow your animal nature to rule your reason.”

Speak of Love

My Mother is Love
My Father is Love
My Prophet is Love
My God is Love
I am a child of Love
I have come only to speak of Love .

Lover's Ailment

The lover's ailment is not like any other;
Love is the astrolabe of God's mysteries.
Whether Love is from heaven or earth,it points to God.

Love of God

This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,
to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.
First to let go of life.
Finally, to take a step without feet

IQBAL

Iqbal, the poet, the philosopher, the dreamer and the Idealist.

Khudi Ko Kar Bulad Itna Key Har Taqdeer say Pehaley
Khuda Bunday sey Yeh Pushay Bata Teri Raza Kya Hay,