Rumi: Since I Nourish a Seed Named Love
i am no lion
to overpower my enemies
winning over myself
if i can
is enough
though i’m of lowly earth
since i nourish a seed
named love
i’ll grow
lilies of the field
when i’m pitch-black
lamenting separation
i know for sure
i will break through
spreading light on the dark night
i am on fire inside
but look grim outside
since i want to rise
like smoke through my cell
i am a child
whose teacher is love
surely my master
won't let me grow
to be a fool
~ the Sufi poet/mystic Rumi, ghazal number 1523
to overpower my enemies
winning over myself
if i can
is enough
though i’m of lowly earth
since i nourish a seed
named love
i’ll grow
lilies of the field
when i’m pitch-black
lamenting separation
i know for sure
i will break through
spreading light on the dark night
i am on fire inside
but look grim outside
since i want to rise
like smoke through my cell
i am a child
whose teacher is love
surely my master
won't let me grow
to be a fool
~ the Sufi poet/mystic Rumi, ghazal number 1523
translated by Nader Khalili
in the book Rumi: Fountain of Fire
in the book Rumi: Fountain of Fire
.
posted by Darrell Grizzle | 6:36 AM
5 Comments:
I love this... it has a very different feel from the Barks "translations," which I suspect are more reworkings than translations. All the beauty, but less frenetic.
What do you think? After you read Barks, do you have to read less obtrusive translations to discover the real Rumi?
I do love many of Coleman's "versions" (that's what he calls them, not translations), but I recognize that for more "literal" translations you really need to read the work of those who actually know the Person language in which Rumi wrote.
There's a wonderful little book of Rumi poems in the Everyman's Library Pocket Poets series. It has several different types of versions, from the British scholars' translations of the early 1900's on one end, to the "free" versions by Coleman Barks and Andrew Harvey on the other end - and other translations that fall in between the two extremes. The editor, Peter Washington, even includes different translations of some of the same poems.
Check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307263525/wildfaith
Thanks for posting this, I really needed it today and happened to look at your blog!
(I like Barks' versions. I think his writing is very lyrical.)
Really lovely Rumi :) Thank you so much for reminding us of what is truly important through his words.
Peace and Blessings!
So utterly beautiful.
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