Listen to my reed: how does it wail (1)
Telling a long partition’s tale
Parted I was from my reed-bed
Since then, men & Women
have joined my lament (2)
I want a bosom wretched in pain
Separation from love got her insane
Anyone who is parted from the clan
Want a reunion with the roots’ main
I sing woefully the story: how I was torn
bereaved with their beloveds’ sojourn
Everyone joins me, thinking of their own
None shares my secrets; I stay forlorn.
My secrets are sung in my wailing
Ears and eyes don’t register anything (3)
The body and soul are well-intertwined
People see body, erasing soul from vision (4)
The sound of a reed emits fire, not wind (5)
Who has that fire, is annihilated within. (6)
The fire of love is burning hard the reed
The passion of love is exhorting the wine (7)
Reed is a companion of miserable lovers
Separated from beloved is tearing hearts
Who’s seen reed as poison or antidote
Who’s found a companion and lover like her (8)
The reed is leading on a perilous path
Singing tales of Majnun of the past (9)
We like the reed has two mouths
One in my lips and the other out
The wailing end is facing you my Lord
The havoc it’s creating in the skies at top
Those who’ve eyes may witness
Silent end is crying on His behalf
The reed speaks, ’cause of His Breath (10)
The soul is shrieking as His call behests (11)
Lose your consciousness to hear this voice
None buys more than ears what tongue sells
If reed’s wailing wasn’t heard, in this world
Who would be bowing in gratitude immense
We’ve spent our lives in a wild repent (12)
With untold sorrows and harm, days end
May my days pass by in the same way (13)
You are the only one, the purest I say
Other than the fish, Get satiated from river
the jobless waste their time here and there
The imperfect can’t empathize with the perfect
So, talk concisely and leave the circle
Wine distills passion from our zeal
Sky broods on our consciousness
Who gets the wine intoxicated but us
We’re not body; body is from us
Everyone cannot digest the reality ‘as it is.’
Birds are fed according to their beaks’ size (14)
O’ son, get rid of the prison, you’re caught
How long shall you bear with the golden cage? (15)
Try pouring a river into a cup
You won’t add a little, not all
The greedy ones filled cups never found
Mother of pearl with one drop is content (16)
If love’s intensity tears me apart,
I’ll get rid of greed and all faults.
O’ Love! May you live happily forever (17)
A window to Mathnavi Maulvi Ma’nvi
Translation and Commentary Seema Arif
External Links for Rumi
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