Middle Eastern Poetry

The whole business of love is to drown in the sea. - Rumi

Sat, 04 May 2013 20:30:24 +0100

The whole business of love is to drown in the sea. - Rumi

You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day,...

Fri, 03 May 2013 20:30:43 +0100

You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen — the seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives, — I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, “Thieves, thieves, the curséd thieves.” Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me. And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top cried, “He is a madman.” I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, “Blessed, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks.” Thus I became a madman. - Khalil Gibran

I brought the cup to my lips with greed begging for longevity,...

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:30:41 +0100

I brought the cup to my lips with greed begging for longevity, my temporal need. Cup brought its to mine, its secret did feed: time never returns, drink, of this take heed. - Omar Khayyam

A Poem of Bliss. We are placed upon a wedding cake like two...

Wed, 01 May 2013 20:30:50 +0100

A Poem of Bliss. We are placed upon a wedding cake like two dolls, bride and groom. When the knife strikes, we’ll try to stay on the same piece. - Roni Someck

Do you know how beautiful you are? I think not, my dear! For as...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:30:58 +0100

Do you know how beautiful you are? I think not, my dear! For as you talk of God, I see great parades with wildly colorful bands streaming from your mind and heart, carrying wonderful and secret messages to every corner of this world. I see saints bowing in the mountains hundreds of miles away to the wonder of sounds that… - Hafiz ~~will never be the same again~~

Photo

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:30:22 +0100

In my soul there is a Temple, a Shrine, a Mosque, a Church...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:30:44 +0100

In my soul there is a Temple, a Shrine, a Mosque, a Church where I kneel. Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist! Is there not a region of love, where the sovereignty is illuminated nothing, where ecstasy gets poured into itself and becomes lost, where the wing is fully alive but has no mind or body? In my soul there is a Temple, a Shrine, a Mosque, a Church, that dissolve, that dissolve in God. - Rabia Basri

I like this photo. I feel close to this photo. I can hear this photo! For in my soul, the Songs of Solomon are on repeat… ~~which is a bit strange for an Iraqi, but oh well.~~

Tell the night that it cannot claim our day. No religion claims...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 20:30:24 +0100

Tell the night that it cannot claim our day. No religion claims love’s Holy faith. Love’s an ocean, vast and without shores. When lovers drown, they don’t cry out or pray. - Rumi

I tasted everything - I found nothing better than you. When I...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:30:29 +0100

I tasted everything - I found nothing better than you. When I dove into the sea, I found no pearl like you. I opened all the casks; I tasted from a thousand jars, yet none but that rebellious wine of yours, touched my lips and inspired my heart. - Rumi

O sorrowful traveller, the wound is a book without margins. -...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:30:00 +0100

O sorrowful traveller, the wound is a book without margins. - Farhad Shakely

*Kurdish boy injured by an Iraqi napalm bomb at the end of the Gulf War.

What am I to do? She’s put my head in such a daze, what am I to...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:30:00 +0100

What am I to do? She’s put my head in such a daze, what am I to do? I am a hypocrite, a phony… When a beauty gives a kiss like this, what’s a Holy man to do? - Rumi

Photo

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:30:00 +0100

Photo

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:30:41 +0100

I know, when my heart steps up to speak, it soon will be openly...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 20:30:41 +0100

I know, when my heart steps up to speak, it soon will be openly disgraced. Obsessed with the memory of your beauty, your face appears with every breath it takes. - Rumi

Don’t go back to sleep. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 20:30:26 +0100

Don’t go back to sleep. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don’t go back to sleep. - Rumi

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field....

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:30:42 +0100

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about. - Rumi

So badly have you battered my mind that men point at me and mock...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:30:49 +0100

So badly have you battered my mind that men point at me and mock me to my face. - Rumi

Every time I kiss you after a long separation, I feel I am...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:30:36 +0100

Every time I kiss you after a long separation, I feel I am putting a hurried love letter in a red mailbox. - Nizar Qabbani

Those who have not been separated from their Beloved will not...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:30:46 +0100

Those who have not been separated from their Beloved will not understand my night without my love. Without my Beloved, I was a prisoner in my home. - Attar http://withoutstrangers.tumblr.com/post/26436310521

The face she shows me is a little sour, though sugar has never...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:30:45 +0100

The face she shows me is a little sour, though sugar has never tasted sweeter. Sugar would be bored by its own sweetness If it ever came to know that sour flavour. - Rumi http://the-arab-wolf.tumblr.com/post/33334713161