How often you ask,
All your sorrow exists for one reason –
The smell of bread has reached you –
Can’t you see? –
From a distance you tremble with fear –
If a master has not placed
-- Ode 406
What is my path?
What is my cure?
He has made you a seeker of Unity,
isn’t that enough?
that you may end sorrow forever.
The desire to know your own soul
will end all other desires.
if that aroma fills you with delight
what need is there for bread?
If you have fallen in love,
that love is proof enough;
If you have not fallen in love,
what good is all your proof?
If you are not the King
what meaning is there in a kingly entourage?
If the beautiful one is not inside you
what is that light hidden under your cloak?
Can’t you see the mighty warrior
standing ready in your heart?
The fire of his eyes has burned away every veil,
So why do you remain behind the curtain,
scared of what you cannot see? –
Open your eyes! The Beloved
is staring you right in the face!
His light in your heart,
What joy can you find in this world? –
every flower is lifeless,
and sweet wine has no taste.
Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi
Bantam Books, 1992