Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi- known simply as Rumi – was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Iranians, Turks, Afghans, Tajiks, and other Central Asian Muslims as well as the Muslims of South Asia have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy in the past seven centuries. Rumi’s importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world’s languages and transposed into various formats. In 2007, he was described as the “most popular poet in America.”
Rumi’s works are written in Persian and his Mathnawi remains one of the purest literary glories of Persia, and one of the crowning glories of the Persian language. His original works are widely read today in their original language across the Persian-speaking world. Translations of his works are very popular in other countries. Wikipedia
Rumi’s Little Book of Life is a beautiful collection of 196 poems by Rumi, previously unavailable in English. Translated by native Persian speakers, Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Kolin, this collection will appeal to Rumi lovers everywhere.
This collection of mystical poetry focuses on one of life’s core issues: coming to grips with the inner life. During the course of life, each of us is engaged on an inner journey. Rumi’s Little Book of Life is a guidebook for that journey. The poetry is a companion for those who consciously enter the inner world to explore the gardens within – out of the everyday “world of dust” – through an ascending hierarchy that restores one’s soul to the heart; the heart of the spirit; and in finding spirit, transcending all.
At the end of my life, with just one breath left, if you come, I’ll sit up and sing.
Be a lamp, a lifeboat, a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.
Be grateful for whoever comes, because each guest has been sent as a guide from beyond.
Be wild crazy and drunk with love. If you are too careful, love will not find you.
Because of the secret you whispered, love’s wind whirls in my head.
Bend like the limb of a peach tree. Tend those who need help. Disappear three days with the moon.
Bring the sky beneath your feet and listen to celestial music everywhere.
Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery.
Disharmony prevails when you confuse lust with love, while the distance between the two is endless.
Don’t get lost in your pain, know that one day your pain will become your cure.
Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.
Don’t hide your heart but reveal it so that I might know mine too and learn what I am capable of.
Every object and being in the universe is a jar overflowing with wisdom and beauty.
Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.
Everything in the Universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.
I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I’ve been knocking from the inside!
I have one small drop of knowing in my soul. Let it dissolve in your ocean.
I pressed my soul’s ear against countless doors, but never heard words as sweet as yours.
If every tip of every hair on me could speak, I still couldn’t say my full gratitude.
If I were the plaything of every thought, I would be a fool, not a wise man.
In the house of lovers the walls are made of songs, the floor dances and the music never stops.
Know that it is the waves of love that turn the wheels of heaven.
Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.
Let the waters settle, you will see stars and moon mirrored in your being.
Let your teacher be love itself not someone with a white beard.
Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.
Look past your thoughts, so you may drink the pure nectar of this moment.
Love is our steady guide on this road full of hardships.
Love is the energizing elixir of the universe, the cause and effect of all harmonies.
Love is the way messengers from the mystery tell us things.