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Ghazal 911
On the day I die, when I’m being
carried toward the grave, don’t weep.
Don’t say, "He’s done! He’s gone!"
Death has nothing to do with going away.
The sun sets and the moon sets,
but they’re not gone. Death
is a coming together.
The tomb looks like a prison,
but it’s really release into Union.
The human seed does down in the ground
like a bucket into the well where Joseph is.
It grows and comes up full
of some unimagined beauty.
Your mouth closes here
and immediately opens
with a shout of joy there.
Version by Coleman Barks
"Like This," Maypop, 1990
The day I've died, my pall is moving on -
But do not think my heart is still on earth!
Don't weep and pity me: "Oh woe, how
awful!"
You fall in devil's snare - woe, that is awful!
Don't cry "Woe, parted!" at my burial -
For me this is the time of joyful meeting!
Don't say "Farewell!" when I'm put in the
grave -
A curtin is it for eternal bliss.
You saw "descending" - now look at the
rising!
Is setting dangerous for sun and moon?
To you it looks like setting, but it's rising;
The coffin seems a jail, yet it means freedom.
Which seed fell in the earth that did not
grow there?
Why do you doubt the fate of human seed?
What bucket came not filled from out the
cistern?
Why should the Yusaf "Soul" then fear this
well?
Close here your mouth and open it on that
side.
So that your hymns may sound in Where-
no-place!
"Look! This is Love - Poems of Rumi"
Annemarie Schimmel, Shambhala, 1991
When my bier is carried on the day of my death
Don’t think my heart remains in this world.
Don’t weep for me or cry, "Woe! Woe!"
Such sadness is the devil’s snare.
When you see my hearse, don’t cry, "He’s gone,
gone!"
Remember, union and encounter are mine in that hour.
When you commit me to the grave, don’t say: "Goodbye,
goodbye."
The grave is a curtain concealing the community of
Paradise.
After looking upon descent, consider resurrection;
To the sun and moon, is setting a calamity?
To you death is a setting; in truth it’s a rising.
Though the grave seems like a prison, it comes as the
soul’s release.
What seed buried in earth doesn’t grow?
Why doubt the growth of the seed in man?
What bucket lowered doesn’t come up brimming?
Why should the spirit’s Joseph complain at the well?
Shut your mouth on this side of death, open in beyond.
Your song will be triumphant in nowhere’s air.
Version by James Cowan
Rumi’s Divan of Shems of Tabriz, Selected Odes
Element Books Limited 1997
On the day of death, when my bier is on the move, do not
suppose that I have any pain at leaving this world.
Do not weep for me, say not "Alas, alas!" You will fall into
the devil’s snare – that would indeed be alas!
When you see my hearse, say not "Parting, parting!" That
time there will be for me union and encounter.
When you commit me to the grave, say not, "Farewell, fare-
well!" For the grave is a veil over the reunion of paradise.
Having seen the going-down, look upon the coming-up; how
should setting impair the sun and the moon?
To you it appears as setting, but it is a rising; the tomb appears
as a prison, but it is release for the soul.
What seed ever went down into the earth which did not grow?
Why do you doubt so regarding the human seed?
What bucket ever went down and came not out full? Why
this complaining of the well by the Joseph of the spirit?
When you have closed your mouth on this side, open it on
that, for your shout of triumph will echo in the placeless air.
"Mystical Poems of Rumi 1"
Translated by A. J. Arberry,
The University of Chicago Press, 1968
On that final day
When my casket moves along
Do not think my soul
will stay in this world.
Do not weep for me, crying, Tragedy, tragedy.
You will only fall into the snares of delusion –
Now that’s a tragedy!
When you see my lifeless body go by
Do not cry out, Gone, gone.
It is my moment of union.
It is when I come upon
the eternal embrace of my Beloved.
As I am lowered into the ground
Do not say, Farewell, farewell.
For the grave is but a veil
covering the splendor of Paradise.
Having seen the fall
Consider the rise.
What harm ever came to the setting Sun or Moon?
What appears to you as a setting
is for me a rising.
What appears to you as a prison
is for my soul an endless garden.
Every seed that enters the earth will grow.
Should it be any different with a human seed?
Every bucket that is lowered into a well comes up full.
Should I complain when instead of water
I pull up Joseph himself?
Do not look for your words here,
look for them over there.
Sing to me in the silence of your heart
and I will rise up
to hear your triumphant song.
Version by Jonathan Star
"Rumi - In the Arms of the Beloved"
published by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997
when i die
when my coffin
is being taken out
you must never think
i am missing this world
don't shed any tears
don't lament or
feel sorry
i'm not falling
into a monster's abyss
when you see
my corpse is being carried
don't cry for my leaving
i'm not leaving
i'm arriving at eternal love
when you leave me
in the grave
don't say goodbye
remember a grave is
only a curtain
for the paradise behind
you'll only see me
descending into a grave
now watch me rise
how can there be an end
when the sun sets or
the moon goes down
it looks like the end
it seems like a sunset
but in reality it is a dawn
when the grave locks you up
that is when your soul is freed
have you ever seen
a seed fallen to earth
not rise with a new life
why should you doubt the rise
of a seed named human
have you ever seen
a bucket lowered into a well
coming back empty
why lament for a soul
when it can come back
like Joseph from the well
when for the last time
you close your mouth
your words and soul
will belong to the world of
no place no time
"RUMI, Fountain of Fire",
Poetic translation by Nader Khalili
Burning Gate Press, Los Angeles, 1994.
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