The Essential Rumi
translated by Coleman Barks

Poetry makes too many readers nervous. The memories of school flood in, and the mind freezes at the memory of term papers, and close textual analysis of imagery, and the uneasy sense that this stuff asks questions for which there are no “right” answers.

So let Rumi be the first poet we talk about. He couldn't be easier to read --- his poems are, mostly, a man talking, and in the plainest of speech.

You haven't heard of or read Rumi? You're forgiven. He was pretty much unknown until a few decades ago; now, he's ranked with the greats and there's a fast-growing Rumi cult.

Part of the attraction is good old-fashioned exoticism. He was born in Afghanistan in 1207. His father was rich, a Sufi mystic and theologian. There's a famous story of Rumi, at 12, traveling with his father. A great poet saw the father walking ahead and Rumi hurrying to keep up. "Here comes a sea followed by an ocean," he said.

In 1244, Rumi met Shams of Tabriz. Shams was a God-intoxicated brother; their friendship was the great event of Rumi's life. When he was murdered, Rumi grieved, but then he understood:

Why should I seek? I am the same as

he. His essence speaks through me.

I have been looking for myself.

As a poet, Rumi was as clear as he was deep. His story-poems are riddles you can solve. His poems are little telegrams, straight from his heart to yours. Whatever it cost him to write is hidden. His point is: Here is honey. Taste. Eat.

And is there ever nourishment in his work! Consider:

No matter how fast you run,
your shadow more than keeps up.
Sometimes, it's in front.

Only full, overhead sun
diminishes your shadow.

But that shadow has been serving you!
What hurts you, blesses you.
Darkness is your candle.
Your boundaries are your quest.

Feel the space that opens inside you when you read those lines? (Or is it just Butler ?)

But don't mistake straightforward speech for simplicity; Rumi is as brain-busting as Zen. For example:

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Which reminds Butler of a story Rumi tells: A friend sends a prayer rug to a man in prison. What the man wanted, however, was a key or file --- he wanted to break out. Still, he began to sit on the rug and pray. Eventually he noticed an odd pattern in the rug. He meditated on it --- and realized it was a diagram of the lock that held him in his cell. Escape came easily after that.....

Escape comes more easily after you read these poems. You may well find yourself, like Rumi, saying:

Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that.
And I intend to end up there.

--- by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com

To buy The Essential Rumi from Amazon.com, click here.

Copyright 2004 by Head Butler Inc.