The Essential Rumi

by Rumi, Jalalu'l-Din

• ISBN13: 9780062509598
• ISBN10: 0062509594
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-26
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

The best selling Rumi book ever is now better than ever! This revised and expanded edition of the comprehensive one volume edition of America's most popular poet includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks, and 57 new poems never published before.

The ecstatic, spiritual poetry of Rumi is more popular than ever, and The Essential Rumi continues to be far and away the top selling title of all Rumi books. With the addition of many new poems and a new introduction, The Essential Rumi is now clearly the definitive and most delightful selection of Rumi's poetry.

"If Rumi is the most read poet in America today, Coleman Barks is in good part responsible. His ear for the truly divine madness in Rumi's poetry is truly remarkable." - Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions

"Perhaps the world's greatest spiritual poet the gold of Rumipours down through Coleman's words. The words leap off thepage and dance!" - Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

"Perhaps the world's greatest spiritual poet the gold of Rumi pours down through Coleman's words. The words leap off the page and dance!" - Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

"The Essential Rumi is a rare and precious book that will stir the hearts of Rumi devotees and win many new converts." - Body Mind Spirit

Author Biography

Coleman Barks has published several books of Rumi's writing and is widely regarded as the premier English interpreter of Rumi. He teaches poetry at the University of Georgia.

Table of Contents

On Rumi	p. xi
A Note on the Organization of This Book	p. xv
The Tavern: Whoever Brought Me Here Will Have to Take Me Home
On The Tavern	p. 1
Who Says Words with My Mouth?	p. 2
We have a huge barrel of wine	p. 2
A Community of the Spirit	p. 3
There's a strange frenzy in my head	p. 4
Drunks fear the police	p. 4
A Children's Game	p. 4
Gone, inner and outer	p. 5
The wine we really drink	p. 6
The Many Wines	p. 6
Special Plates	p. 7
Burnt Kabob	p. 7
The New Rule	p. 8
This that is tormented	p. 8
Bewilderment: I Have Five Things to Say
On Bewilderment	p. 9
I Have Five Things to Say	p. 9
Acts of Helplessness	p. 11
Saladin's Begging Bowl	p. 12
Late, by myself	p. 12
Does sunset sometimes look	p. 13
Be Melting Snow	p. 13
The Fragile Vial	p. 14
Where Are We?	p. 15
The Friend comes into my body	p. 16
There is a light seed grain	p. 16
Do you think I know	p. 16
Emptiness and Silence: The Night Air
On Silence	p. 17
The Reed Flute's Song	p. 17
A Thirsty Fish	p. 19
Enough Words?	p. 20
This World Which Is Made of Our Love for Emptiness	p. 21
Quietness	p. 22
Sanai	p. 22
A Just-Finishing Candle	p. 23
Craftsmanship and Emptiness	p. 24
Emptiness	p. 26
When you are with everyone but me	p. 28
No Flag	p. 28
The Food Sack	p. 29
The Night Air	p. 30
Only Breath	p. 32
There is a way between voice	p. 32
Spring Giddiness: Stand in the Wake of This Chattering and Grow Airy
On Spring Giddiness	p. 33
Spring	p. 33
Where Everything Is Music	p. 34
A Great Wagon	p. 35
Today, like every other day	p. 36
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing	p. 36
The breeze at dawn	p. 36
I would love to kiss you	p. 37
Daylight, full of small dancing particles	p. 37
They try to say what you are	p. 37
Come to the orchard in Spring	p. 37
Spring Is Christ	p. 37
Shreds of Steam	p. 38
The Steambath	p. 39
The Ground Cries Out	p. 39
Unfold Your Own Myth	p. 40
Not a Day on Any Calendar	p. 41
Flutes for Dancing	p. 42
The Shape of My Thongue	p. 42
The Grasses	p. 43
The Sheikh Who Played with Children	p. 44
Let the lover be disgraceful	p. 46
All day and night, music	p. 46
Feeling Separation: Don't Come Near Me
On Separation	p. 47
Sometimes I Forget Completely	p. 47
A Man and a Woman Arguing	p. 47
A night full of talking that hurts	p. 50
An Empty Garlic	p. 50
The Diver's Clothes Lying Empty	p. 51
Red Shirt	p. 51
My Worst Habit	p. 52
Don't let your throat tighten	p. 52
Dissolver of Sugar	p. 53
Pale sunlight	p. 53
Controlling the Desire-Body: How Did You Kill Your Rooster, Husam?
On The Desire-Body	p. 54
Sexual Urgency, What a Woman's Laughter Can Do, and the Nature of True Virility	p. 55
Tattooing in Qazwin	p. 61
The Center of the Fire	p. 63
Someone who goes with half a loaf	p. 64
The mystery does not get clearer	p. 64
Muhammad and the Huge Eater	p. 64
Fasting	p. 69
Bismillah	p. 70
Wean Yourself	p. 70
After the Meditation	p. 71
The Dog in the Doorway	p. 73
The light you give off	p. 74
Tending Two Shops	p. 74
Think that you're gliding out	p. 75
Sohbet: Meetings on the Riverbank
On Sohbet	p. 76
Talking in the Night	p. 77
Talking Through the Door	p. 78
A Mouse and a Frog	p. 79
The Long String	p. 80
The Force of Friendship	p. 84
The Vigil	p. 85
Two Friends	p. 87
The Servant Who Loved His Prayers	p. 89
Imra'u 'l-Qays	p. 90
All Rivers at Once	p. 92
The Blocked Road	p. 93
A Babbling Child	p. 93
Who sees inside from outside?	p. 94
Constant Conversation	p. 94
Bonfire at Midnight	p. 95
In Between Stories	p. 95
The Question	p. 97
The Music	p. 98
I saw you last night in the gathering	p. 98
The Tent	p. 98
Friend, our closeness is this	p. 99
Listen to presences	p. 99
Being a Lover: The Sunrise Ruby
On Being A Lover	p. 100
The Sunrise Ruby	p. 100
Water from Your Spring	p. 101
You Sweep the Floor	p. 102
Each Note	p. 102
Granite and Wineglass	p. 103
Buoyancy	p. 104
Music Master	p. 105
When I am with you	p. 106
The minute I heard my first love story	p. 106
We are the mirror as well as the face	p. 106
I want to hold you close	p. 107
Someone Digging in the Ground	p. 107
The Phrasing Must Change	p. 108
The Guest House	p. 109
The Pickaxe: Getting to the Treasure Beneath the Foundation
On The Pickaxe	p. 110
Who Makes These Changes?	p. 110
Why Wine Is Forbidden	p. 111
On Resurrection Day	p. 111
The Dream That Must Be Interpreted	p. 112
The Pickaxe	p. 113
Zikr	p. 114
The Core of Masculinity	p. 115
I honor those who try	p. 116
Dervish at the Door	p. 116
Art as Flirtation with Surrender: Wanting New Silk Harp Strings
On Flirtation	p. 118
Omar and the Old Poet	p. 118
An Egypt That Doesn't Exist	p. 120
Chinese Art and Greek Art	p. 121
In your light I learn	p. 122
Drumsound rises on the air	p. 122
Are you jealous of the ocean's generosity?	p. 123
Union: Gnats Inside the Wind
On Union	p. 124
Gnats Inside the Wind	p. 124
Meadowsounds	p. 125
Ayaz and the King's Pearl	p. 126
Put This Design in Your Carpet	p. 128
Hallaj	p. 129
We Three	p. 130
I am filled with you	p. 131
The Sheikh: I Have Such a Teacher
On The Sheikh	p. 132
Chickpea to Cook	p. 132
I Have Such a Teacher	p. 133
Sublime Generosity	p. 134
Like This	p. 135
A Bowl	p. 137
Wax	p. 138
No Room for Form	p. 138
Childhood Friends	p. 139
The Mouse and the Camel	p. 142
These gifts from the Friend	p. 144
The Lame Goat	p. 144
Recognizing Elegance: Your Reasonable Father
On Elegance	p. 145
Father Reason	p. 145
A craftsman pulled a reed	p. 146
Humble living does not diminish	p. 146
New Moon, Hilal	p. 147
Body Intelligence	p. 151
The Seed Market	p. 153
The Howling Necessity: Cry Out in Your Weakness
On Howling	p. 155
Love Dogs	p. 155
Cry Out in Your Weakness	p. 156
The Debtor Sheikh	p. 157
You that come to birth	p. 160
Teaching Stories: How the Unseen World Works
On The Unseen	p. 161
Nasuh	p. 161
Moses and the Shepherd	p. 165
Joy at Sudden Disappointment	p. 168
If the beloved is everywhere	p. 171
Story Water	p. 171
Rough Metaphors: More Teaching Stories
On Roughness	p. 173
Rough Metaphors	p. 173
Birdwings	p. 174
I Come Before Dawn	p. 175
Checkmate	p. 175
An Awkward Comparison	p. 177
Two Kinds of Intelligence	p. 178
Two Ways of Running	p. 178
The Importance of Gourdcrafting	p. 181
Breadmaking	p. 183
Solomon Poems: The Far Mosque
On Solomon	p. 186
Sheba's Gifts to Solomon	p. 186
Solomon to Sheba	p. 188
Sheba's Hesitation	p. 188
Sheba's Throne	p. 189
Solomon's Crooked Crown	p. 190
The Far Mosque	p. 191
A bird delegation came to Solomon	p. 192
The Three Fish: Gamble Everything for Love
On Gambling	p. 193
If you want what visible reality	p. 193
Gamble everything	p. 193
In a boat down a fast-running creek	p. 194
The Three Fish	p. 194
Send the Chaperones Away	p. 198
When I remember your love	p. 199
All our lives we've looked	p. 199
The Gift of Water	p. 199
Jesus Poems: The Population of the World
On Jesus	p. 201
I called through your door	p. 201
Jesus on the Lean Donkey	p. 202
What Jesus Runs Away From	p. 204
Christ is the population	p. 204
There's Nothing Ahead	p. 205
In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo: More Teaching Stories
On Baghdad	p. 206
In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo: In Cairo, Dreaming of Baghdad	p. 206
Dying, Laughing	p. 212
Human Honesty	p. 213
Dalqak's Message	p. 214
The Cat and the Meat	p. 216
Sheikh Kharraqani and His Wretched Wife	p. 217
The Snake-Catcher and the Frozen Snake	p. 220
Polishing the Mirror	p. 222
Ali in Battle	p. 223
Beginning and End: The Stories That Frame the Mathnawi
On The Frame	p. 225
The King and the Handmaiden and the Doctor	p. 225
The Three Brothers and the Chinese Princess	p. 233
Green Ears Everywhere: Children Running Through
On Children Running Through	p. 238
I used to be shy	p. 238
Green Ears	p. 239
Birdsong brings relief	p. 243
The way of love is not	p. 243
Let your throat-song	p. 244
I have phrases and whole pages	p. 244
You've so distracted me	p. 244
I'm Not Saying This Right	p. 244
The Least Figure	p. 245
I reach for a piece of wood	p. 245
Being Woven: Communal Practice
On Being Woven	p. 246
Of Being Woven	p. 246
The Waterwheel	p. 247
The Granary Floor	p. 248
A Song About a Donkey	p. 250
Elephant in the Dark	p. 252
Wished-For Song: Secret Practices
On Secrecy	p. 253
A Wished-For Song	p. 253
A Basket of Fresh Bread	p. 254
When We Pray Alone	p. 256
One Who Wraps Himself	p. 257
Deliberation	p. 258
The Private Banquet	p. 259
We are the night ocean	p. 260
Which is worth more, a crowd	p. 260
Majesty: This We Have Now
On Majesty	p. 261
This We Have Now	p. 261
The Visions of Daquqi	p. 262
The Worm's Waking	p. 265
The Freshness	p. 266
Judge a Moth by the Beauty of Its Candle	p. 266
The morning wind spreads	p. 267
Slave, be aware	p. 267
Evolutionary Intelligence: Say I Am You
On Evolving	p. 268
A Dove in the Eaves	p. 268
We have this way of talking	p. 270
This piece of food	p. 270
In the slaughterhouse of love	p. 270
The Witness, the Darling	p. 270
In the Arc of Your Mallet	p. 271
Unmarked Boxes	p. 272
The Milk of Millennia	p. 273
The You Pronoun	p. 273
Birdsong from Inside the Egg	p. 274
Say I Am You	p. 275
The Turn: Dance in Your Blood
On The Turn	p. 277
Inside water, a waterwheel	p. 278
You have said what you are	p. 278
A secret turning in us	p. 278
This moment this love comes to rest	p. 278
Keep walking, though there's no place	p. 278
Walk to the well	p. 279
I circle your nest	p. 279
No better love than love	p. 279
Some nights stay up	p. 279
I am so small	p. 279
When you feel your lips	p. 280
The sun is love	p. 280
Something opens our wings	p. 280
Held like this	p. 280
I stand up, and this one of me	p. 280
I have lived on the lip	p. 281
Real value comes with madness	p. 281
Dance, when you're broken open	p. 281
Notes	p. 283
A Note on These Translations and a Few Recipes	p. 290
References	p. 297
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