Rumi: Do Not Despair

Do Not Despair

Do Not Despair

A Poem By Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi

 

Say, do not despair because the Beloved drives you away; if

He drives you away today, will He not call you back tomorrow?

If He shuts the door on you, do not go away; be patient

there, for after patience He will seat you in the place of

honour.

And if He bars against you all ways and passages, He will

show you a secret way, which no man knows.

Is it not the case that when the butcher cuts off the head of

a sheep with his knife, he does not abandon what he has slain,

but first slays, and then draws?

When no more breath remains to the sheep, he fills it with

his own breath; you will see whither God's breath will bring

you!

I spoke this as a parable; else, His generosity slays no man,

rather it rescues him from slaying.

He gives all the kingdom of Solomon to a single ant; He

bestows both worlds, and does not startle a single heart.

My heart has travelled round the world and found none

like Him; whom does He resemble?  Whom does He resem-

ble?

Ah, silence!  For without speech He gives to all of this wine

to taste, He gives to taste, He gives to taste, He gives to taste.

 

-- Translation by A. J. Arberry

"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"

The University of Chicago Press, 1968

 

Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani