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Rumi's Rubaiyat
Translated by Zara Houshmand
Beginning in April 2000, I made a commitment to translate one of Rumi's
quatrains each day for iranian.com. Jahanshah Javid chose the poems; it was part
of my commitment that I would accept the choice, no matter how difficult, and do
my best to create an equivalent poem in English.
I hoped in the process to improve my Persian and get closer to Rumi's heart; it's
also probably the wisest thing I've ever done to grow as a poet myself. I'm grateful
to Jahanshah for making this possible, and also to the many readers who have offered
encouragement and corrections.
If you would like to be informed when the translations are published as a book,
please send me an email: zh@mindspring.com
Zara Houshmand
August, 2002
Original poems from Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi
Edited by Badiozzaman Forouzanfar (Tehran, Amir Kabir, 1988).
* The face she shows me
is a little sour (#1795)
* You, who make all my hardship
easy (#544)
* I asked you for one kiss,
you gave me six (#1993)
* I'm not me, you're not
you, and you're not me (#1976)
* I'm the wind, you're a
leaf. How can you not tremble (#1958)
* How long will I keep burning
in your flame? (#1957)
* I would shake the dust
from my coat, and rise (#1925)
* If I was not so pitifully
in love (#1923)
* If you don't heed my call
and answer me (#1915)
* If you are loyal, keeper
of secrets (#1913)
* You could string a hundred
endless days together (#1901)
* Last night you left me
and slept happily (#1897)
* I went to my love on a
moment's thought (#1885)
* The lovely one whispers
under her breath (#1873)
* God forbid I'd compare
the moon to your face (#1845)
* You do bad deeds and hope
to get back good (#1798)
* With a smile biting those
two ruby lips (#1790)
* Look again, and see how
much I need you (#1783)
* Oh, when you remind me
of her door (#1693)
* If my head holds one thought
wise and clear, it's you (#1690)
* The ravishing moon last
night upon me shone (#1655)
* I asked, "Where is
your home, beautiful moon?" (#1584)
* If you feel no desire for
me, then say so (#1582)
* If they all leave me, my
love, don't go (#1579)
* My moon, without you I
wept like a cloud (#1556)
* My heart, if you can't
take the sorrow, go (#1548)
* If I die in this war, this
combat with you (#1501)
* Give me the gift to blend
and bond with a friend (#1494)
* Throw greed, jealousy,
hatred out of your heart (#1459)
* I've trod in your path
until I'm downtrodden (#1444)
* Being alive is a trespass
without you (#1397)
* I'm the source of such
rot, such stupidity (#1388)
* The many sighs your loss
has dragged from me (#1387)
* You're the road of love,
and at the end, my home (#1369)
* At times we are hidden,
at times revealed (#1325)
* I whispered an offer softly
in the ear of your playful heart (#1303)
* I said to myself, "I'll
go away for a while (#1292)
* However long your patience,
I will shred it (#1287)
* Excuse me if my cries fill
the sky (#1276)
* All our lives we'd seen
each other's face (#1267)
* My heart delights in the
garden of your face (#1259)
* All day, Saghi, I was drunk
on you (#1251)
* The heart says, "Savor
the garden's delight (#1232)
* My life is lost, my world
is lost - all lost (#1159)
* Tonight, when love's sorrow
is forever and ever (#1150)
* Today I'm going for a drunken
stroll (#1146)
* A rare catch has come my
way, what am I to do? (#1142)
* No punishment, no threat
(#1141)
* I'm so close to you that
I'm far apart (#1121)
* No way can I take back
my heart from you (#1104)
* For a moment we paused
in the human crowd (#1082)
* Where kindness is, who
cares for peace or war? (#1077)
* My eyes? "I'll make
a river flow there." So she said (#1047)
* If you have the strength,
don't wear the cloth of love (#1029)
* That primrose gazed at
me with languishing eyes (#1026)
* If love makes you thirst,
never fear: you have wine (#989)
* My love, my life, you ask
why I'm so hard (#980)
* My tongue is parched, though
I've drunk myself senseless (#871)
* For love of you, my soul
soars in the sky (#939)
* They say that heaven's a
high paradise (#802)
* What is sadness, that settles
like dust (#773)
* When your love and my joy
conspire to spill my blood (#766)
* A lover's one who must drink,
day and night (#757)
* There's talk in the halls
of love's seminary (#680)
* Without your love, anyone
with even the smallest heart (#667)
* When I grasp hold of your
hair, I'm in hell (#664)
* The way that you spoke left
me speechless (#648)
* Since the day I may join
my beloved is nowhere in sight (#640)
* What good are your cries
when her gaze is gone? (#639)
* The eye that even glances
at that flower (#633)
* Listen only to what drunken
lovers say (#630)
* How could the soul that
holds your image (#627)
* One day your mind will finally
wear out (#586)
* Forgive me, that I cannot
sleep; forgive (#577)
* Gentle hearts, who scatter
seeds of loyalty (#566)
* May grief and sadness come
to the unfaithful heart (#537)
* He who set the world on
fire in me (#490)
* I know, when my heart steps
up to speak (#465)
* The harvest of my pain was
its own peace and remed (#262)
* If you walk with your eyes
closed, for sure you're lost (#254)
* You're so coupled to life,
which lasts but a day (#223)
* My heart's pure essence
is just this body's molded clay (#209)
* This burning in my chest
comes of following her sect (#208)
* I went to my doctor, said,
"Hey, Zein al-Din" (#1479)
* If you want victory, eternity
(#109)
* Seek the science that unties
for you this knot (#106)
* Why is your love
such a wise teacher (#363)
* When I'm with you,
your kindness keeps me awake (#36)
* My friend, my companion,
I am bound to you (#25)
* Get up! Show some
respect for her good name! (#1800)
* When there's no
sign of hope in the desert (#1932)
* Longing for her,
at times you tell sad tales (#1912)
* If you poked thorns
into these streaming eyes (#1916)
* Until you made me
sing, I was a monk (#1891)
* If ever again you
pass my humble mound (#1483)
* All I've wanted
from you is to want you (#1194)
* When I hear you
sing, I become a joyful song (#1118)
* Wrap my secrets
within your soul, and hide (#1392)
* By nature hard as
stone, with a heart of steel (#1493)
* Love's intoxication,
my disintegration (#1645)
* The sweet words
we once spoke together (#1112)
* My heart will never
seek another heart (#954)
* Any thief of a kiss
can have your lips free (#1947)
* Curses fall from
your lips, and the moon smiles (#691)
* If my heart's not
on fire, then why all this smoke? (#370)
* Fear this murderous
conflagration, this love that sets fires alight (#987)
* Seeking love, I
see it winding in your curls (#1283)
* I'm not a bee, that
flies away from smoke (#1248)
* Don't call the wise
lover insane, or say (#1578)
* I set my heart on
the path of calamity (#32)
* Show your face;
we long to paint your image (#1372)
* He who's never tasted
wine sleeps soundly (#485)
* There's joy in my
heart: I have joined my lover tonight (#111)
* Over and over my
lover torments my weary heart (#925)
* Deep thoughts and
sadness dim and do not last (#85)
* That Turk, who gladdens
my heart with her laugh (#1562)
* I'm a slave to her,
and fear of her delights me (#418)
* We speak another
language, not this tongue (#403)
* You can't get drunk
on the wine of her eyes (#380)
* I am lost in God,
and God is found in me (#422)
* They ask me 'Why
are you in so much pain? (#401)
* Everyone has someone,
a friend to love (#1987)
* My hard friend,
you ask me for my heart and my gold (#1087)
* I swear on the heart
that is humbled before her (#1042)
* The nightingale
comes to the garden, no more the crow (#1055)
* When I die, bring
my corpse to her (#64)
* On truth's path,
wise is mad, insane is wise (#302)
* Don't even think,
just let yourself dream (#84)
* Oh flowing tears,
speak to my growing love (#17)
* My love is beautiful
-- one of her faults (#325)
* I said: 'You are the
wine, and I the cup' (#1638)
* The day my soul sets
out on heaven's path (#479)
* He came to me all
angry, as if to say "Enough!" (#975)
* I've told you a hundred
times my love, don't run away just anywhere (#958)
* No heart has ever
softened yet among these hearts of stone (#955)
* Tell me, life of
this world, does anyone exist but you? (#1545)
* I'm tangled, like
the curls of my love's hair (#1210)
* All the waters of
life are a drop in your pool (#177)
* Love is what gives
joy to all creation (#762)
* Remembering your
scent, wherever I saw a flower (#1176)
* What can I do, my
love? I'm in love with your face (#1342)
* You who live by
the grace of this world's love (#1602)
* Get up! Let's go
to the garden by moonlight (#1215)
* All his life, his
heart went galloping after passion (#1101)
* Absolute joy has
no room for sadness (#805)
* You're sitting beside
the road that you seek (#1714)
* The suffering one
to whom you offered solace (#1663)
* The king who pleaded
mercy for all sins (#354)
* I wrote a poem that
made my love angry (#795)
* My soul, will I
tire of you? No, no, no (#1825)
* Will your pain submit
to a cure? Never (#951)
* Drunk, I asked my
teacher, "Please, I need to know (#1680)
* If you hope for a
moment of peace in love (#673)
* Was such a drunk
ever seen in the tavern of love (#684)
* My beloved could
tear my skin away (#323)
* Each part of me displays
my love for her (#248)
* The moment my eyes
are flooded with tears (#100)
* The face she shows
me is a little sour (#1795)
* Last night I spent
with a goddess who dabbles with slaves like me (#967)
* We have no fear
of arrows, or daggers (#1212)
* My heart is your
student; it studies love (#353)
* I bring wine from
my love, who lights my heart (#1307)
* You trap me in a
hundred snares, bound tight (#1702)
* Sit for a while
in my heart like a mystery; don't go (#1585)
* If I sigh, that won't
make her happy (#371)
* Remembering your
lips, I kiss the ruby on my ring (#1181)
* Come, treasure,
home to these ancient ruins (#1019)
* Beside your love,
your soul's jewel, find your seat (#234)
* The heart in me lives
for the pain you cause (#327)
* The jealous birds
complained to Solomon (#1006)
* Like friends united,
it's a season blessed (#1636)
* The memory of you
makes my heart pound
* Love for you came
to my heart, and left again, happy (#362)
* Endless love without
beginning made you sing (#1676)
* Rather fear our
sweet union's memory. (#1673)
* No one solves this
problem for me, shows me (#1460)
* Not for a moment,
my heart, did you bow (#1731)
* When I fell into
your love, and its pain (#603)
* She's gone--no one
has ever been so good a friend (#1040)
* To be tangled, oh
so briefly, in your love (#576)
* A heart that circles
round the door of love (#1071)
* Today, as ever, I'm
wasted with wine (#82)
* Luminous full moon,
the bow of your brow (#903)
* When I boil in the
fire of my self for a while (#1216)
* I've learned the
perfect magic of your eyes (#1126)
* Your memory, sweet,
is the source of my joy (#1573)
* Make peace with
pain: I am your remedy (#1168)
* "So what?",
says the charming flirt to accusing eyes (#1598)
* Naked, that love
gallops off to the plains (#140)
* When I look at my
lover, she blushes (#584)
* Your eye is the
light, the eye of the storm (#1607)
* I hear the song
of a drunk nightingale (#1122)
* Don't walk away,
for I will pay your price (#1328)
* Heart, if you sit
amongst thorns and don't choose (#1161)
* He is king who knows
you, whatever you wear (#742)
* The scent of you
will never leave my nose (#450)
* No way can I take
back my heart from you (#1104)
* She smiles so, this beauty,
that your hand reaches out (#1075)
* My mind is set on something
quite other (#174)
* You opened my heart's door,
sat down inside (#1726)
* Sadness to me is the happiest
time (#1115)
* I've never seen a greener
tree than you (#1893)
* You think that I am at
my own command? (#1359)
* If I hold you in my heart,
you'll turn into a thought (#1861)
* Don't shut my ears to the
secret of life (#915)
* Even if the whole world
were gripped by sadness (#374)
* My heart boils up, aspiring
to your heat (#835)
* Pouring envy and greed
from love's open sea (#1463)
* Last night, in private,
I asked the wise old man (#1022)
* From the outside, you see
lifeless faces (#1810)
* Yesterday, wealth was the
light of our day (#1881)
* We fight with day for passing
quick as day (#228)
* I'm content with this way:
nonexistence (#1250)
* I asked, "What
should I do?", He said, "That's it... (#1293)
* Sharing my secrets with
you is no help at all (#971)
* I'm not a poet. I don't
earn my bread (#1256)
* When my lost and wretched
heart sees your face (#644)
* I will not tell the secret
my Friend spoke (#347)
* Each day my lover comes
again. She's drunk (#445)
* So far and high did my heart's
bird fly (#817)
* "My eyes?" I asked.
She said, "Look for me." (#912)
* Heart, in this hard time
let me share secrets (#1406)
* It's morning. With my cup
of wine in hand (#165)
* Lover of truth, this morning
bring pure wine (#926)
* I've lost, then found, my
thoughts a hundred times (#752)
* I'm mad; and if mad, then
sleep is a sin (#336)
* All my heart speaks, openly
or hidden (#701)
* O wine, you are king, just
and good to all (#1709)
* This sorrow strains and
filters your pure soul (#1399)
* A dervish must know pain's
reality (#687)
* It's love that holds all
eastern alchemy (#1576)
* Reason came forward
to lecture the lovers (#367)
* Time will soon silence the
clamor of bleating cries (#65)
* I closed my mouth and spoke
to you in a hundred silent ways (#1303)
* That king who made
me crazy, and with whom (#1532)
* The dew of love turned dust
of man to mud (#521)
* Each day my heart drinks
yet a new sweet draught (#845)
* It is treasure
buried in earth, concealed (#1640)
* Tonight's a night of weakness,
misery (#170)
* If I bring you to mind,
you're there in my thoughts (#1992)
* She came to him and said,
"You are my soul." (#1951)
* 'You are mad,' you said,
'a wandering fool.' (#1942)
* You're the kind that
moves an angel to joy (#80)
* Wake up, my heart! The world
is passing by (#594)
* You are water; we are all
plants that drink (#1621)
* Today I'm going for a drunken
stroll (#1146)
* At first, with endless kindness,
he played his song upon me (#14)
* The messenger brings sad
news (#775)
* We are drunk on the essence
without even tasting the wine (#1319)
* Night falls; but me, I can't
tell night from day (#956)
* Tell the night that
it cannot claim our day (#232)
* All souls alive have souls;
not so soul itself (#1450)
* The liquid that flows from
my eyes like blood (#461)
* You've stripped me of all
signs and name: a soul (#1812)
* If I wait, pain
will come from missing you (#786)
* Those who flow like water,
clear and simple (#504)
* I will break the cycle
of kind and cruel (#1347)
* On a wild white steed,
unbridled (#1355)
* My love, there's a path
from your heart to mine (#185)
* Without your blessing, my
heart would not have turned (#602)
* You've had your
fill, not me. What's the remedy? (#273)
* My faith in God is this:
her eyes, their cheer (#1316)
* My face was pale, my heart
was overflowing (#543)
* If you wander far from
lovers' shade (#1674)
* The friend to whom flower
and thorn are one (#454)
* Each moment, moon, you
beckon me to come (#1988)
* The names I gave her: wine;
sometimes the cup (#1005)
* The tides will take my poetry
and song (#593)
* My heart forever weaves
tales of your spring (#694)
* Friend, in truth, you're
the source of life's own life (#1736)
* Last night my beloved
looked kindly at me (#334)
* When your love drives me
crazy, that day (#720)
* God forbid your heart should
find another home (#1095)
* In their quest for God they
have turned away (#540)
* Who could be brought
down once you've raised him high? (#1945)
* "Don't think you're
above them," I told my heart (#1021)
* Penniless and ragged, we
are happy (#1321)
* My soul is stubborn,
drunken, and meddling (#1092)
* Don't take me for a stranger,
I'm from here (#1178)
* I don't know what state
you are in today (#1768)
* My beloved is not as lovers
are (#288)
* Atom, escape from
the sun if you can (#937)
* I'll hang your love in
the nets of heaven (#1352)
* A thousand men want
to be one with you (#412)
* Go away, logic, there's
no thinker here (#199)
* So near, my delight, please
don't go away (#1555)
* I seek a fire to burn away
love's pain (#1133)
* Now that I can't
touch the dust at your door (#1128)
* The whole world
worries over your sweet face (#1400)
* My love, accept my service
one more time (#1374)
* Inside my heart
and outside, all is her (#173)
* She clapped her
hands when she saw my state (#289)
* They say love finally is
its own relief (#400)
* In the abbatoire of love,
they only kill the choicest (#681)
* You, who make all
my hardship easy (#544)
* I told my heart,
if there's a chance to speak (#1434)
* When I tug at your
coat, it's not to fight (#375)
* Reciting you, friend, I
lose sight of you (#193)
* Grant him a cruel
and faithless lover, Lord: (#1654)
* When your love began
to fill up my heart (#606)
* They say love means
crying out her name. Lies (#1058)
* A perfect love,
a heart-thief, a beauty (#1099)
* I entered your garden,
but not to gather (#895)
* I have lost heart,
my sweet, but you have yours (#1959)
* Accept me, friend,
and take my life away (#1408)
* You are all held
captive behind this veil (#1651)
* He's fallen, King,
no need for check and mate (#1415)
* Where do you come
from, my bowed string's cry (#1712)
* Now is our time for traveling
the earth (#1952)
* You pitched your moon-tent
on the night (#1801)
* How thirsty I am
to see you, God knows (#1649)
* You fall in love,
my heart, and then you fret (#1902)
* Do you smile at
the garden's kindness, my flower? (#1753)
* 'Don't!' she tells
me, when I moan like Jacob (#1046)
* This open square
does not exist, nor these (#1648)
* I told her, "Your
love is driving me mad (#1639)
* This earthen body
is the heavens' light (#75)
* Harmony itself
creates our discord (#1361)
* Daily my head is
filled with desire for your love (#952)
* I said I would
take my heart back from you, but I can't (#1296)
* The moon rose high
and I sunk very low (#1357)
* She made my night
more splendid than the day (#1390)
* The simpler our
hands and hearts, the more free (#899)
* She's come! She
who never left us has come! (#927)
* I'll swallow the
pain that bleeds from your love's wound (#1221)
* Saqi, I asked you
for a simple wine (#904)
* There's another
kind of calm in the congress of lovers (#314)
* Let your water
flow, and you nurture the young tree (#1792)
* Your love stirs
the oceans into reckless storms (#523)
* There's a friend
who feeds me pleasure and kindness (#246)
* What riot flares
in my constricted heart? (#212)
* I'm grasping your
feet, but can't reach your hand (#239)
* A few flies are
brawling over sugar (#243)
* As long as I live,
this is my work and my trade (#267)
* Why so happy to
laugh with your mouth shut? (#1781)
* Today's the day
for boldness, tired heart (#432)
* By nightfall, dawn's
memory has vanished (#551)
* I rush here and
there in search of a friend (#1154)
* Not just her laugh
and her face are lovely (#269)
* A nightingale with
a beautiful voice (#1880)
* It's a waste to
play music to the deaf (#1846)
* As long as I have
my own cup of milk (#1220)
* Though distance
has broken hope's own back (#438)
* When mankind gathers
on that final day (#774)
* My love for you
will surely be loyal (#671)
* I'm sad that as
she binds me in this pain (#863)
* Your homeland was the heavens,
but you thought (#1771)
* I am hungry, I
am sated with joy (#1350)
* When first that
beauty stole my love from me (#725)
* My heart wanted
only a kiss from you (#388)
* I was drinking
wine, mired in my distress (#1647)
* The moment you
find a companion in joy (#1849)
* The stock of a man's
wisdom is madness (#350)
* I am hungry, I am sated
with joy (#1350)
* Hide the faults of others
deep in the earth (#378)
* Look at her dark
hair, her grace as she stands (#867)
* I'll go a hundred steps
beyond reason (#754)
* I made a journey
through the desert of your love (#1854)
* Delicate moon, who ripens
the harvest of life (#1424)
* I want a trouble-maker
for a lover (#862)
* Now that your lover has
shown you her face (#1734)
* This blooming branch will
bend with fruit one day (#1759)
* "I gave you
my heart and my faith," I said (#1294)
* Love is the way and the path,
our prophet (#57)
* I'm a grape, I
roll under trampling feet (#1155)
* A thousand moon-flowers
filled the garden (#660)
* Came spring, and
the garden made me blossom (#1172)
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