Sitting in the Orchard by Rumi

A man sits in an orchard, fruit trees full
and the vines plump. He has his head
on his knee; his eyes are closed.

His friend says, “Why stay sunk in mystical
meditation when the world is like this?
Such visible grace.”

He replies, “This outer is an elaboration
of the inner. I prefer the origin.”
Natural beauty is a tree limb reflected
in the water of a creek, quivering there, not
there.

The growing that moves in the soul
is more real than tree limbs and reflections.
We laugh and feel happy or sad over all this.
Try instead to get a scent
of the true orchard.
Taste the vineyard
within the vineyard.

Translated by Coleman Barks

____________

You personify God's message.
You reflect the King's face.
There is nothing in the universe that you are not
Everything you want, look for it within yourself--
you are that.

I see so deeply within myself.
Not needing my eyes, I can see everything clearly.
Why would I want to bother my eyes again
Now that I see the world through His eyes?

Translated by Shahram Siva


Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 2:32am