Joseph and the Thief Walking the Moon, and: The Thorn, and: Blade and Kafan, and: Slave to the Moon, and: Our Time's Khidr, and: Entangled Hair

Joseph and the Thief Walking the Moon, and: The Thorn, and: Blade and Kafan, and: Slave to the Moon, and: Our Time's Khidr, and: Entangled Hair Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi (bio) Translated by Fatima Haidari (bio) and David Keplinger (bio) End Page 30 Joseph and the Thief Walking the Moon Who am I? What am I? This creaturechained and tempted, pulled by this and that. One breath, a burning flame, one breath, a running flood.Of what origin? Of what season? In what market am I bought? One breath, walking the moon, one breath, drunk on the divine.One breath, Joseph in the well, one breath, stinging everyone. One breath, the thief and ghoul, one breath, bitter and bored.One breath, I am out of these two, for I have ascended all above. Tell, singer of Laws, of the lust of Layla and Majnun.I've jumped out of the patterns, unfastened the pin of thinking. End Page 31 End Page 32 The Thorn Someone puts a thorn under the donkey's tail.The donkey does not know better, so it jumps. The jumping only pushes the thorn deeper.A wise one must pick out the thorn. To relieve the pain and ache, the donkeyjumped around and wounded a hundred other parts. The thorn in one's body is this tricky to find!Imagine the thorn in one's heart. End Page 33 End Page 34 Blade and Kafan What would happen if my beloved took my hand tomorrow,and hung his head, like the beautiful full moon, through the window? I would tell him: "Swear on your life, without you, O life of life,parties are no fun; wine doesn't get me drunk." If he gave me attitude: "Leave, what do you want from me?I fear your business and for it to become mine." I would bring him a blade and kafan. Like a Qurbani I would lay my neck:"If I'm such a headache, then cut off my head like you mean it." End Page 35 End Page 36 Slave to the Moon I am slave to the moon. Don't speak to me except of the moon.To me, except for the tale of candle and sugar, say nothing. Last night, I went crazy. Love saw me and said:"I've come. Stop yelling! Stop tearing your clothes! Say nothing." I said: "O love, I fear something else."Love said: "That thing is no more. Say nothing." I said: "Then what is this? Tell or I will turn upside down."Love said: "Then turn upside down. Say nothing." A lifelike moon appeared on my way to the heart.Oh, how lovely it is to travel to the heart. Say nothing. End Page 37 End Page 38 Our Time's Khidr You have heard how Khidr broke the shipto rescue it from the cruel oppressor. Love is your time's Khidr, and by the way it breaks the Sufi,he is purified and lies low like the sediments. The pleasure of poverty is like the wine's; it seeks the low ground.Because everyone there loves prostrating and gets drunk on humility. By now, you should realize arrogance comes from lack of fun.And for the arrogant, being a bore is enough of a punishment. End Page 39 End Page 40 Entangled Hair You are my life, my life, my life.You are of me, of me, of me. O your hair's lock, my fetter.Your dimple's well, my prison. How do you do with these two scattered things?Your hair and my entangled mood. You are my king, deserving of my affinity.You are my sugar, deserving of my teeth. End Page 41 Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi is a thirteenth-century poet, mystic, Sufi, Islamic scholar, and theologian. His collections of poetry, Masnavi Ma'navi (with sixty-four thousand lines) and Divan-e-Shams (with over three thousand ghazals), remain two of the most influential works of Farsi literature. He is a best-selling poet in the United States and has been translated into twenty-six languages. In the east, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran continue to quarrel...