Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition
240
Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition
240eBook
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781577317494 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | New World Library |
| Publication date: | 02/09/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 240 |
| File size: | 219 KB |
About the Author
Sabrineh was born in Tehran and holds a degree in English to Persian translation from Azad University. Now living in the United States, she previously worked as a freelance translator for Iran University Press. David and Sabrineh live in Alto, Michigan.
Read an Excerpt
Love's Alchemy
Poems from the Sufi Tradition
By David Fideler, Sabrineh Fideler
New World Library
Copyright © 2006 David and Sabrineh FidelerAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57731-890-3
CHAPTER 1
Invisible Caravans
Love's concert is calling,
but the flute can't be seen.
The drunks are in sight,
but the wine can't be seen.
Hundreds
of caravans
have passed
this very way —
Don't be surprised
if their trace can't be seen.
Muhammad Shirin Maghribi
Bloom Like A Rose
Your heartrending fire
made me bloom like a rose.
I died at your feet
and returned fast to life.
My inborn freedom
offered nothing in profit;
but now I am free,
since becoming your slave.
Sana'i
The Same Language
To speak the same language
is kinship and affinity,
yet a person stuck with those
he can't confide in
is trapped like a prisoner
enchained by lack of understanding.
It is, indeed, ironic:
There are many people
from India and Turkey
who speak the same language,
while there are countless Turks
who really can't understand one another.
The universal language is authentic insight.
To be one in heart is surely superior
to only speaking the same words.
Rumi
Drowned in Your Essence
All the world's atoms
are really your mirrors,
drowned in your essence
like drops in the sea.
Like waves that roll over,
crashing in emptiness,
they deny themselves —
they offer your proof.
Walah Daghistani
Stone Hearts
Woe to that heart
who cannot sense
the beauty in music!
Never waste your time
discussing love's ways
with a stone heart.
Strangers to love
are not invited
to the Spiritual Concert.
Only those who burn
will give off smoke.
Sa'di
Four Elements
Within your nature
is every element,
so listen to
some sage advice:
You are demon
and wild beast
and angel
and human —
Whatever you cultivate,
that you will be.
Baba Afdal Kashani
Your Irresistible Glance
With your irresistible glance,
you captured my heart and soul.
Having robbed me of those,
take away my name and accomplishments too.
If any trace of me remains in this world,
please, don't delay — take that too.
'Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani
Still Hanging On
As long as a speck of your existence still remains,
the thought of idolatry still remains too.
You said, "I broke the idol of imagination,
so now I am free" —
But that idol
you supposedly demolished
is still hanging on.
Sa'di
Attachment
Whoever's chained to the world suffers more.
Whoever's free of attachment,
like a dervish,
suffers less.
A donkey with a louder bell
always attracts a heavier load.
Abu Sa'id Abi 'l-Khayr
Back to Life
Whoever you embrace
will have everlasting life.
Those drawn to your thought
will dwell in happy fields.
If you pass by one
who fell on love's sword —
your footsteps
will bring him
back to life.
Khwaju Kirmani
The Glow of Your Presence
Where have you taken your sweet song?
Come back and play me a tune.
I never really cared for the things of this world.
It was the glow of your presence
that filled it with beauty.
Hafiz
Every Direction
When traveling
love's pathway,
never stop
turning your soul
toward the eternal sun.
But since the Real
shines forth
from every direction,
why aim your prayers
at only one spot?
Fayd Fayyadi
Without Hindrance
When the morning of friendship with God begins
to dawn,
the soul becomes distant from the entire world.
You then reach a place in which each breath of the
soul,
without the eye's hindrance,
can see the Friend.
Sayf al-Din Bakharzi
Life and Death
When the body dissolves
don't think that it's death.
But ignorance, clearly,
is the death of the soul.
With knowledge
each breath
will give your soul life.
In ignorance
each breath
chips your essence away.
Muhaqqiq Ardabili Bidguli
The Pathway Finally Opened
When my heart came to rule
in the world of love,
it was freed
from both belief
and from disbelief.
On this journey,
I found the problem
to be myself.
When I went beyond myself,
the pathway finally opened.
Mahsati Ganja'i
The King's Royal Falcon
When I drew near
to the candle of your face,
I became plaintive and daring,
just like the moth.
On the day I'm released
from this miserable cage,
like the king's royal falcon
I'll fly free at last.
Khwaja 'Abdallah Ansari
Asleep
When I became water,
I looked like a mirage.
When I became the sea,
I looked like froth
and foam.
When I became aware,
the entire world
seemed forgetful.
When I became awake,
I saw I'd been asleep.
Binawa Badakhshani
The Soul's Freedom
When a person of heart speaks, why say
they're wrong?
If you lack eloquence,
why quarrel with words, anyway?
Here's the real problem, as I see it —
I can't worship this world or the next.
Thank God for the soul's freedom.
Hafiz
The Sufi's Cap
What's the use
of those woolen robes
and the Sufi's cloak?
Forget the attire
and make yourself free
of blameworthy deeds!
Wearing a woolen hat
won't make you a Sufi.
Be humble like a dervish —
then you can wear
any cap that you please.
Sa'di
Essence and Form
We've lost the essence
and worship the husk.
But who wants the shell
without tasting the nut?
Seduced by the form,
we're not really alive —
Regaining the essence,
we've become life itself.
Sana'i
Your Heart
Your heart is the mirror
of the essence most high.
Of the king's royal mint
your heart is the prize.
The heart's a vast ocean —
but only holds
a single pearl.
If I want such a treasure,
your heart I am seeking.
Shah Ni'matallah Wali
Coming Clean
We placed the prayer carpet
on the wine jar
and made ablutions
with the tavern's dust.
Perhaps in these taverns
we've rediscovered that life —
the one we lost
in the seminary.
Abu Hamid Muhammad Ghazali
The Greatest Name
We are the Treasure
whose spell is the world.
We are that Essence
molded into
human form.
If you are seeking out
the Greatest Name,
don't pass us by —
Don't forget,
we are that name.
Dara Shikuh
Finding Life
True love is nothing but drinking the wine of
eternity.
In this state, the soul finds life only by dying —
but I wanted things in reverse!
I thought, "First I will know you, then I will die."
He replied, "Whoever knows me never dies.
Rumi
Hidden Treasure
Topple the ego to find yourself.
Why worry about the stars
when you are your sky?
The world is full of obvious things,
but you —
you're a hidden treasure.
Remember with joy, you are your world.
Sana'i
Reality and Appearance
You who search
the way of love:
In your mind,
you seem to think
you are praying to God —
But one who truly worships the Beloved
never engages
in self-worship.
There is a difference
between real love
and the love of appearances.
Shah Abu 'Ali Qalandar
Hundreds of Ways
Today, like every day,
we are ruined and lonely.
Don't retreat,
fleeing your emptiness
through the doorway
of thinking.
Try making some music instead.
There are hundreds of ways
to kneel in prayer —
hundreds of ways to open
toward the heart
of the Friend's beauty.
Rumi
Perplexed
Those who went the way
of reason and logic —
And those who mimicked
the conventions of learning,
the dogmas of faith —
They never came to know
the secrets of existence.
They became perplexed
in the world
and left perplexed too.
Safi 'Ali Shah
Far Away
Those who dwell
in the Beloved's presence
don't obsess on his thought
and speak of him
even less —
But those who huff and howl
like the bellows of a bagpipe,
call for him in a loud voice
because they are far away.
Baba Afdal Kashani
A Mirage
The world is a veil
on the face of our Friend.
The world is a bubble
in the sea of his existence.
In the sight of those greedy for the Water of Being,
the world is a mirage in the desert of seeking.
Muhammad Shirin Maghribi
The Wind at Dawn
The wind at dawn
is the soul's confidant.
Don't find yourself asleep.
This is the time to share
your greatest need.
Don't find yourself asleep.
From before-the-beginning to beyond-the-last,
the two eternities are present now.
Don't find yourself asleep.
The door of the two worlds
is open now.
Don't find yourself asleep.
Rumi
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Love's Alchemy by David Fideler, Sabrineh Fideler. Copyright © 2006 David and Sabrineh Fideler. Excerpted by permission of New World Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction,The Poems,
Appendix 1: Translating Persian Poetry,
Appendix 2: Stringing Pearls: The Forms of Persian Poetry,
Glossary,
Notes,
Index of Authors,
About the Translators,