Member Poem

These are my modern English translations of poems, epigrams, sayings and quotes by Rumi. 

Elevate your words, not their volume. Rain grows flowers, not thunder.—Rumi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Forget security!
Live by the perilous sea.
Destroy your reputation, however glorious.
Become notorious.
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your heart’s candle is ready to be kindled.
Your soul’s void is waiting to be filled.
You can feel it, can’t you?
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Why should I brood when every petal of my being is blossoming?—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

What you seek also pursues you.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Don’t be satisfied with stories of others’ accomplishments. Create your own legend.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Love renders reason senseless.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your heart’s an immense ocean. Go discover yourself in its depths.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The only prevailing beauty is the heart’s.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Love is the bridge between your Heart and Infinity.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Bare rock is barren. Be compost, so wildflowers spring up everywhere.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your task is not to build love, but to bring down all the barriers you built against it.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I want to sing as the birds sing, heedless of who hears or heckles.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We come whirling from nothingness, scattering stardust.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I was so drunk my lips got lost requesting a kiss.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Ignite yourself, then seek those able to fan your flames.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Eyes identify love. Feet pursue.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

If your heart is light, it will light your way home.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Are you still in the dark that your light lights the worlds?—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Why do you remain prisoner when the door's wide open?—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As you begin to follow the Way, the Way appears.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Everything beautiful was made for the beholder.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The universe lies not without you, but within. Look within yourself: everything you desire, you already are.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When the inferno rages, it will incinerate a hundred veils and carry you ten thousand steps toward your goal.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Come, come, fellow traveler. Wanderer, worshiper, itinerant: it makes no difference. Ours is no caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken ten thousand vows. Come yet again, come, come.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When will you begin the long trek toward reconciliation with yourself?—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

There is eloquence in silence. Stop weaving and the pattern is perfected.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The essence of the rose abides not in the perfume but the thorns.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The moon is brightest when it embraces the night.—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The moon shines most bright
when it embraces the night.
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The moon shines brightest
when the night is darkest.
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The heart is the thousand-stringed lyre
Tuned to the chords of Love.
—Hafiz, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This is love: to fly toward a mysterious sky,
to cause ten thousand veils to fall.
First, to stop clinging to life,
then to step out, without feet ...
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I am not this hair,
nor this thin sheathe of skin;
I am the Soul that abides within.
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Let yourself be guided by the strange magnetism of what you truly love:
It will not lead you astray.
The lion is most majestic when stalking prey.
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Songbird/Birdsong
by Rumi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Birdsong relieves
my deepest griefs:
now I'm just as ecstatic as they,
but with nothing to say!
Please universe,
rehearse
your poetry
through me!

***

Beyond
by Rumi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Don’t demand union:
there’s a closer closeness, beyond.
The instant love descends to rest in me,
many beings become One.
In a single grain of wheat ten thousand sheaves germinate.
Within the needle’s eye innumerable stars radiate.

***

The Field
by Rumi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Far beyond sermons of right and wrong there’s a sunlit field.
I'll meet you there.
When the soul lazes in such lush grass
the world is too full for discussion.

***

Two Insomnias
by Rumi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When I’m with you, we’re up all night;
when we’re apart, I’m unable to sleep.
Thank God for both insomnias
and their inspiration.

***

I choose to love you in silence
by Rumi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I choose to love you in silence
where there is no rejection;
to possess you in loneliness
where you are mine alone;
to adore you from a distance
which diminishes pain;
to kiss you in the wind
stealthier than my lips;
to embrace you in dreams
where you are limitless.

***

You must understand
“one” and “two”
because one and one make two.
But you
must also understand
“and.”
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Keywords/Tags: Rumi, translation, mystic, mystical, poem, poems, epigram, epigrams, quote, quotes, saying, sayings