How long will you play in this dusty world like a child filling his skirt with worthless stones (Poetry) ~ Maulana Rumi

My soul wants to fly away

When your Presence calls it so sweetly.

My soul wants to take flight

When you whisper, “Arise.”

A fish wants to dive from dry land

into the ocean

when it hears the roaring waves.

A falcon wants to return from the forest

to the King’s wrist

when it hears the drum beating “Return.”

A Sufi, shimmering with light,

wants to dance like a sunbeam

when darkness surrounds him.

O God—you are the graceful and the beautiful,

you are the highest love,

you are the giver of life.

What misery and hardship comes

to those who turn away from you!

O bird, fly back to your native land.

You have broken free from your cage;

Your wings are eager for flight.

Fly from the brackish puddle

toward the flowing waters of life!

Leave the room where they put the dirty sandals

and return to the royal seat of the soul!

Be off! Be off!

O soul, leave behind this world of separation

and come with us to the world of union.

How long will you play in this dusty world

like a child filling his skirt with worthless stones?

Cast away the burdens of the earth

and fly upward toward heaven!

Put away your childish care

and join the royal banquet.

Behold the countless ways this body has entrapped you!

Break its deadly hold.

Rise up, lift your head clear of this delusion.

Reach for the Holy Book with your right hand

You are not like a child

who doesn’t know right from left.

God said to the mind, “Return from where you came.”

He said to the hand of Death,

“Grab hold of worldly men.”

He said to the soul, “Fly to the Unseen.

Take all the treasure you can carry

and cry no more.”

You ask, “Who is this King?”—

Tell the world that you are the King!

Your knowledge has brought the question,

And your grace has given the answer. 

 

~ RUMI ~