Miscellany #10 Beauty of Love, Poems by Rumi and Kabir

As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. ― John Green

From the Editor:

A Broken Car is a poignant and nostalgic poem that recounts a memorable day when the speaker's car broke down on a hot summer day during their first date. The poem emphasizes that it is not intended as a conventional poem or prose but rather as a cherished memory of love's beauty.

A Broken Car

In the heat of summer's scorching sun, When my car broke, our journey undone, A fateful day, our first date, we recall, Where love's tale unfolded, destined to enthrall.

This verse emerges, not as prose nor poem, But a cherished memory, forever to be known, For it captures the essence of love's tender grace, And unveils the beauty that time can't erase.

I recall your laughter in the passenger seat, Amidst the wreckage, our hearts took a beat, A stolen moment, when lips finally met, A first kiss, an enchantment I'll never forget.

Great Wagon by Rumi

Great Wagon by Rumi is a mesmerizing and spiritually infused poem that explores the transformative power of love and the quest for inner truth. The poem beautifully describes the profound impact of encountering the beloved, where the world transforms and ordinary things become extraordinary.

When I see your face, the stones start spinning!
You appear; all studying wanders.
I lose my place.

Water turns pearly.
Fire dies down and doesn’t destroy.

In your presence I don’t want what I thought
I wanted, those three little hanging lamps.

Inside your face the ancient manuscripts
Seem like rusty mirrors.

You breathe; new shapes appear,
and the music of a desire as widespread
as Spring begins to move
like a great wagon.
Drive slowly.
Some of us walking alongside
are lame!

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

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.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
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.

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.

Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?

They try to say what you are, spiritual or sexual?
They wonder about Solomon and all his wives.

In the body of the world, they say, there is a soul
and you are that.

But we have ways within each other
that will never be said by anyone.

Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
in the pomegranate flowers.

If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.

Abode Of The Beloved by Kabir

"Abode Of The Beloved" by Kabir is a spiritually rich and profound poem that delves into the nature of divine love and the ultimate reality.

Sakhiya Wah Ghar Sabse Nyara,
Jaha Puran Purush Humara
Jaha Nahi Sukh Dukh
Sanch Jhuth Nahi
Pap Na Pun Pasara
Nahin Din Reyn Chand Nahi Suraj,
Bina Jyoti Ujyara

Nahin Tahan Gyan Dhyan
Nahin Jap Tap
Ved Kiteb Na Bani
Karni Dharni Rehni Gehni,
Yeh Sub Jahan Hirani

Ghar Nahin Aghar Na Bahar Bhitar,
Pind Brahmand Kachu Nahin
Panch Tatva Gun Tin Nahin Tahan,
Sakhi Shabd Na Tahin

Mul Na Phul Beli Nahin Bija,
Bina Braksh Phal Sohe,
Oham Soham Ardh Urdh Nahin,
Swasa Lekhan Kou Hai

Jahan Purush Tahwan Kachu Nahin,
Kahe Kabir Hum Jana
Humri Sain Lakhe Jo Koi,
Pawe Pad Nirvana