Reading Rumi

Every morning I read something from the Baha’i sacred writings. I do this in obedience to Baha’u'llah’s command. It’s my obligation. But, more than that, this reading is food for my soul.

The odes of Jalaluddin Rumi have been a kind spiritual dessert to the main course of Baha’u'llah’s writings during this Fast. Here’s ode 3050 (in the version by Coleman Barks from Rumi: Like This, published in 1990 by Maypop Books):

The Lord of Beauty enters the soul
as a man walks into an orchard
in Spring.
xxxxxxxxxCome into me
that way again!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxLight the lamp
in the eye of Joseph. Cure Jacob’s
sadness. Though you never left,
come and sit down here and ask,
“Why are you so confused?”

Like a fresh idea in an artist’s mind,
you fashion things before they come into being.

You sweep the floor like the man
who keeps the doorway:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxWhen you brush
a form clean, it becomes
what it truly is.

You guard Your Silence perfectly
like a waterbag that doesn’t leak.

You live where Shams lives,
because your heart-donkey was strong enough
to take you there.

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