And Dies in Ecstasy…

Peace, one and all…

Whoever is lucky enough to smell the fragrance of Your wine shop
lives drunk on love for as long as he lives,
and dies in ecstasy when he dies.

Your love is the body of which I am the shadow,
I run when You run and walk when You walk.

How can the lover not cry tears of blood
when the Beloved is distant, no road is in sight
and the Guide is so hard to find.

No matter who the company and what the occasion,
my heart and soul abandon the scene and run to You for
consolation.

Jami needs no musicians or bards, for in his chest’s cavity
he hears the celestial song of love’s sweet captivity.
(Jami, Ghazal)

To Hold Your Hand, To Let Go Of Your Foot

Peace, one and all…

Do not become attached to what life gives you here,
for in time you will give it to someone
to hold your hand,
or to some dog
to let go of your foot.
(Jami)

The Entire Creation is Filled with this Melody

Peace, one and all…

Though the entire creation is filled with this melody,
the unawake can hear it not.
Glory, glory, glory to the Musician to whose tune
every ecstatic particle in creation dances accordingly.

The lyre and the lute are declaring in adoration,
‘You are the Cause, Beloved. You are Perfection’.
The lover is drowned in this boundless Ocean.
The clever preacher vies for a place on the shore of delusion.

Love’s Creator wears no manifest face,
yet on every face nothing but That is manifest.
In Leily’s garb love appears to Majnoon,
steals his patience and brings him sweet doom.

In truth, love is always loving Herself.
Leily and Majnoon are but stage names.
Jami saw the Cup Bearer’s face reflected in the goblet once
and like the pitcher, has not stopped bowing to the goblet since.
(Jami, Ghazal)

Whatever You May Find Here

Peace, one and all…

Whatever you may find here,
life or death will soon steal it from you.
Surrender your heart to the One who
in different forms of being
has and will always be with you.
(Jami)

And I Saw You Not

Peace, one and all…

You were always sitting in my eye and I saw You not.
In my chest You were hiding and I ran around
searching the whole world, I sought a sign of You.
The whole world was nothing but You and I saw You not.
(Jami)

Glory to the Great Musician

Peace, one and all…

Glory to the Musician whose melody
erases everything that burdens the heart.
The One whose breath blowing in the flute
releases us from all that burdens our mind.

For lifetimes the clever mind was building castles in the air.
A wave from the Ocean of Love rose
and all thoughts disappeared in its roar.

My heart was given a taste of love’s sorrow
and in its longing it has found release from all joys and sorrows.
My laments I’d bring You, my Beloved, and complain
but whenever I behold You, neither my complaints nor I remain.

Lend no ear to the hunchback who rules here,
for he is given to only one pleasure:
to rob you of your love, your true treasure.

Drink this wine and relish your ecstasy in solitude,
for it’s the only way out of this place of servitude.
Jami learned to worship this Wine at the Pir’s gate,
whoever apprentices with the Master learns his trait.
(Jami, Ghazal)

You Are Love’s Creation

Peace, one and all…

You are love’s creation.
Look nowhere else for sustenance.
Turn to love.

Lover and beloved,
master and disciple,
are naught but love.

Keep out the illusion of duality.
Do not breach the covenant of unity.

Detachment is a fortress of light.
In love’s eye counts no other light.

One who has not been bestowed with the gift of love
his vision no one may trust.

Jami came from the Beloved
and dissolved back into Him.
From the Beloved is our origin
and it is our destiny to return to Him.
(Jami, Ghazal)

That Doesn’t Carry Your Light

Peace, one and all…

There isn’t a particle in creation
that doesn’t carry Your light.
Yesterday I was asking others for a sign of You,
today there isn’t a sign that isn’t of You.
(Jami)