“The Universe Is Not Out Of You”: Here’s Why Rumi Is The Greatest Poet Ever To Have Lived

by Ruth Russell · March 1, 2019

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, more popular as Rumi, was a 13th century Persian poet. He was also a jurist, an Islamic scholar, a Sufi mystic, and a theologian. His poetry and influence transcended national borders and ethnicities. Not just that, Rumi’s poetry transcends time which explains why he is as popular today as he was in his time.

Here are the best poems by Rumi that you must read.

Best poems by Rumi

This universe is not outside of you

“Do you know what you are?
You are a manuscript oƒ a divine letter.
You are a mirror reflecting a noble face.
This universe is not outside of you.
Look inside yourself;
everything that you want,
you are already that.”

Lovers seek, lovers find

“Lovers find secret places
inside this violent world
where they make transactions
with beauty.”

The essence

“You think of yourself
as a citizen of the universe.
You think you belong
to this world of dust and matter.
Out of this dust
you have created a personal image,
and have forgotten
about the essence of your true origin”

Love is endless

“I said to the night,
“If you are in love with the moon,
it is because you never stay for long.”
The night turned to me and said,
“It is not my fault. I never see the Sun,
how can I know that love is endless?”

Infinitely elusive, this moment

“Don’t flounder in the preambles of the past
Wounded with regrets; don’t let autumnal
Nostalgia blind you to the sounds and scents
Of the present’s Spring; you’re a native of
The pellucid moment, make it infinite beyond
The curving snake of passing time and space.
Learn to die in the infinitely elusive moment.”

Be the noise

“There’s a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.

Love is the Water of Life

Everything other than love for the most beautiful God

though it be sugar- eating.

What is agony of the spirit?

To advance toward death without seizing

hold of the Water of Life.

One in soul

A moment of happiness,

you and I sitting on the verandah,

apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.

We feel the flowing water of life here,

you and I, with the garden’s beauty

and the birds singing.

The stars will be watching us,

and we will show them

what it is to be a thin crescent moon.

You and I unselfed, will be together,

indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.

The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar

as we laugh together, you and I.

In one form upon this earth,

and in another form in a timeless sweet land.

It is time

O lovers, lovers it is time
to set out from the world.
I hear a drum in my soul’s ear
coming from the depths of the stars.

Our camel driver is at work;
the caravan is being readied.
He asks that we forgive him
for the disturbance he has caused us,
He asks why we travelers are asleep.

Everywhere the murmur of departure;
the stars, like candles
thrust at us from behind blue veils,
and as if to make the invisible plain,
a wondrous people have come forth.

The seer and the seen

All through eternity

Beauty unveils His exquisite form

in the solitude of nothingness;

He holds a mirror to His Face

and beholds His own beauty.

he is the knower and the known,

the seer and the seen;

No eye but His own

has ever looked upon this Universe.

His every quality finds an expression:

Eternity becomes the verdant field of Time and Space;

Love, the life-giving garden of this world.

Every branch and leaf and fruit

Reveals an aspect of His perfection-

They cypress give hint of His majesty,

The rose gives tidings of His beauty.

Whenever Beauty looks,

Love is also there;

Whenever beauty shows a rosy cheek

Love lights Her fire from that flame.

When beauty dwells in the dark folds of night

Love comes and finds a heart

entangled in tresses.

Beauty and Love are as body and soul.

Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond.

They have together

since the beginning of time-

Side by side, step by step.

Mirror of the heart

Let go of your worries

and be completely clear-hearted,

like the face of a mirror

that contains no images.

If you want a clear mirror,

behold yourself

and see the shameless truth,

which the mirror reflects.

If metal can be polished

to a mirror-like finish,

what polishing might the mirror

of the heart require?

Between the mirror and the heart

is this single difference:

the heart conceals secrets,

while the mirror does not.

Love gambles away

Love is reckless; not reason.

Reason seeks a profit.

Love comes on strong,

consuming herself, unabashed.

Yet, in the midst of suffering,

Love proceeds like a millstone,

hard surfaced and straightforward.

Having died of self-interest,

she risks everything and asks for nothing.

Love gambles away every gift God bestows.

Without cause God gave us Being;

without cause, give it back again.

My soul spills into yours

I am a sculptor, a molder of form.

In every moment I shape an idol.

But then, in front of you, I melt them down

I can rouse a hundred forms

and fill them with spirit,

but when I look into your face,

I want to throw them in the fire.

My souls spills into yours and is blended.

Because my soul has absorbed your fragrance,

I cherish it.

Every drop of blood I spill

informs the earth,

I merge with my Beloved

when I participate in love.

In this house of mud and water,

my heart has fallen to ruins.

Enter this house, my Love, or let me leave.

Bodies become spirit

“I am only the house of your beloved,

not the beloved herself:

true love is for the treasure,

not for the coffer that contains it.”

The real beloved is that one who is unique,

who is your beginning and your end.

When you find that one,

you’ll no longer expect anything else:

that is both the manifest and the mystery.

That one is the lord of states of feeling,

dependent on none;

month and year are slaves to that moon.

When he bids the “state,”

it does His bidding;

when that one wills, bodies become spirit.

Face the color of spring flowers

Because I cannot sleep
I make music at night.
I am troubled by the one
whose face has the color of spring flowers.
I have neither sleep nor patience,
neither a god reputation nor disgrace.
A thousand robes of wisdom are gone.
All my good manners have moved a thousand miles away.
The heart and the mind are left angry with each other.
The starts and the moon are envious of each other.
Because of this alienation the physical universe
is getting tighter and tighter.
The moon says, “How long will I remain
suspended without a sun?”
Without Love’s jewel inside of me,
let the bazaar of my existence by destroyed stone by stone.
O Love, You who have been called by a thousand names,
You who know how to pour the wine
into the chalice of the body,
You who give culture to a thousand cultures,
You who are faceless but have a thousand faces,
O Love, You who shape the faces
of Turks, Europeans, and Zanzibaris,
give me a glass from Your bottle,
or a handful of bheng from Your Branch.
Remove the cork once more.
The we’ll see a thousand chiefs prostrate themselves,
and a circle of ecstatic troubadours will play.
Then the addict will be breed of craving.
and will be resurrected,
and stand in awe till Judgement Day.

My prayers become bitter

I have been tricked by flying too close
to what I thought I loved.

Now the candle flame is out, the wine spilled,
and the lovers have withdrawn
somewhere beyond my squinting.

The amount I thought I’d won, I’ve lost.
My prayers become bitter and all about blindness.

How wonderful it was to be for a while
with those who surrender.

Others only turn their faces on way,
then another, like pigeon in flight.

I have known pigeons who fly in a nowhere,
and birds that eat grainlessness,

and tailor who sew beautiful clothes
by tearing them to pieces.

Who is at my door

He said, “Who is at my door?”
I said, “Your humble servant.”
He said, “What business do you have?”
I said, “To greet you, 0 Lord.”

He said, “How long will you journey on?”
I said, “Until you stop me.”
He said, “How long will you boil in the fire?”
I said, “Until I am pure.

“This is my oath of love.
For the sake of love
I gave up wealth and position.”

He said, “You have pleaded your case
but you have no witness.”
I said, “My tears are my witness;
the pallor of my face is my proof.’
He said, “Your witness has no credibility;
your eyes are too wet to see.”
I said, “By the splendor of your justice
my eyes are clear and faultless.”

He said, “What do you seek?”
I said, “To have you as my constant friend.”
He said, “What do you want from me?”
I said, “Your abundant grace.”

He said, “Who was your companion on the ‘ourney?
I said, “The thought of you, 0 King.”
He said, “What called you here?”
I said, “The fragrance of your wine.”

He said, “What brings you the most fulfillment?”
I said, “The company of the Emperor.”
He said, “What do you find there?”
I said, “A hundred miracles.”
He said, “Why is the palace deserted?”
I said, “They all fear the thief.”
He said, “Who is the thief?”
I said, “The one who keeps me from -you.

He said, “Where is there safety?”
I said, “In service and renunciation.”
He said, “What is there to renounce?”
I said, “The hope of salvation.”

He said, “Where is there calamity?”
I said, “In the presence of your love.”
He said, “How do you benefit from this life?”
I said, “By keeping true to myself

Now it is time for silence.
If I told you about His true essence
You would fly from your self and be gone,
and neither door nor roof could hold you back!

This is all we have on today’s post on the Best Poems By Rumi. This is, however, not an exhaustive list, and if we have missed out on some of your favorites, then please feel free to add them in the comment section below.

Until next time!

Featured image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License

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