johndiii's Journal: Rumi - Sufi Poet

I ran across this fragment of a poem by the Sufi poet Rumi (Mevlana Jalauddin Rumi), that I copied into one of my journals a little over a year ago.

I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let's buy it.

The full poem is available here; see Spring Giddiness near the bottom of the page. There is both an exuberance and a plainness to his poetry that I find very appealing. The italics in the poem were added by the translator, I believe; I think that they add to the presentation.

Italics

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Represent the speakers in a dialogue, between the lover (Asheq) and the Beloved (Moshuq) in Persian mystical poetry.

God is the object of the loving, which is represented in erotic, often tormented language. The eroticism of human love and the power of drunkeness in Rumi's work - like the great Attar, Hafiz, and earlier Khayyam - is the pale metaphor for the all-consuming attraction to the Divine beloved.

In the end there is nothing left of the lover - no existance but that of the Beloved alone.

Coleman

Re:Italics

[johndiii]

Thank you for that insight. My exposure to Rumi is shallow, so far.