What is to be done, O Muslims? for I do not know myself.
I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Magian, nor Muslim.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature’s quarry, nor of the heaven circling above.
I am not made of earth, nor of water, nor of wind, nor fire;
nor of the Divine Throne, nor the carpet, nor the cosmos, nor mineral.
I am not from India, nor China, nor Bulgaria, nor Turkestan;
I am not from the kingdom of the two Iraqs, nor from the earth of Khurasan.
Neither of this world, nor the next, I am, nor of Heaven, nor of Hell;
Nor from Adam, nor from Eve, nor from Eden nor Rizwan.
My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless;
‘Tis neither body nor soul, for I myself am the Beloved.
I have cast aside duality, I have seen the two worlds as one;
One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I say.
He is the First, He is the Last, He is the Outward, He is the Inward;
I know no one other than He, none but he who is He
Drunk with Love’s cup, the two worlds have been lost to me;
I have no business save carouse and revelry.
If once in my life I spent a moment without you,
From that time and from that hour I repent of my life.
If once in this retreat I win a moment with you,
I will trample on both worlds, and dance in ecstasy
O Shams of Tabriz, I am so drunk in this world,
That except for drunkenness and revelry, I have no tale to tell.
Original:
چه تدبیر ای مسلمانان که من خود را نمیدانم
نه ترسا و یهودیم نه گبرم نه مسلمانم
نه شرقیم نه غربیم نه بریم نه بحریم
نه ارکان طبیعیم نه از افلاک گردانم
نه از خاکم نه از بادم نه از ابم نه از اتش
نه از عرشم نه از فرشم نه از کونم نه از کانم
نه ازهندم نه از چینم نه از بلغار و سقسینم
” نه از مـلک عراقـینم نه از خـاک خراسانم
نه از دنیا نه از عقبی نه از جنت نه از دوزخ
نه از ادم نه از حوا نه از فردوس رضوانم
مکانم لا مکان باشد نشانم بی نشان باشد
نه تن باشد نه جان باشد که من از جان جانانم
دویی از خود بیرون کردم یکی دیدم دو عالم را
یکی جویم یکی گویم یکی دانم یکی خوانم
هو الاول هوالاخر هو الظاهر هو الباطن
بغیر از هو و یا من هو دیگر چیزی نمی دانم
ز جام عشق سرمستم دو عالم رفت از دستم
بجز رندی و قلاشی نباشد هیچ سامانم
اگر در عمر خود روزی دمی بی او بر اوردم
از ان وقت و از ان ساعت ز عمر خود پشیمانم
الا ای شمس تبریزی چنان مستم در ین عالم
که جز مستی و قلاشی نباشد هیچ درمانم
Thank you – and Rumi – and…
I use this piece quite often as an introduction to help people understand the Mystical Masterpiece The Ruba’iya’t of Omar Khayya’m as translated and adapted by the anglo-irish genius Edward FitzGerald 1809 – 1883 from Suffolk UK.
Enlightening and entertaining it is a poem of Genius awakening Genius – a poem of Light delighting in Light – of Being in Love.
Not a reply to the above, but … update needed!
This is probably my favourite of Rumi’s short poems in his “Divān-e Shams-e Tabrizi”.
Unfortunately, although present in the English translation, in the original Persian version posted above, after ” نه از عرشم نه از فرشم نه از کونم نه از کانم ”
two lines have gone missing from the text:
نه ازهندم نه از چینم نه از بلغار و سقسینم ”
” نه از مـلک عراقـینم نه از خـاک خراسانم
“I am not from India, nor China, nor Bulgaria, nor Turkestan;
I am not from the kingdom of the two Iraqs, nor from the earth of Khurasan.”
In the line below, “donyā” (the world) is spelt [ دنیا ] not [ دنیی ].
`//:-{)≈ AwA
No need to post this comment – just make the correction.
Mutashaker-am A
I have not found this poem in Divan-e Shams. If you can cite which publication and poem number, that would be appreciated. It appears to sound like Rumi and has elements of ideas prevalent in his poetry, however there are stylistic issues as well as anachronistic word usage which point to not being his – besides not being included in any collection of his works. For example, it reminds one of ghazal #2309 which is actually quite well known :
گفتم ز کجایی تو تسخر زد و گفت ای جان
نیمیم ز ترکستان نیمیم ز فرغانه
نیمیم ز آب و گل نیمیم ز جان و دل
نیمیم لب دریا نیمی همه دردانه
Of course, such things are not uncommon, and by far, Attar has numerous works (not just poems) attributed to him that are not his. However, it would be appropriate to cite sources accurately, if they in fact exist.
The poem is included in Nicholson’s edition and translation of the Divan-i Shams p. 124-127:
https://archive.org/details/SelectedPoemsFromTheDivaniShamsiTabriz-ReynoldA.Nicholson
However many scholars believe it is a later attribution to Rumi (and I think they may be right).
The content of the Rumi’s verses above is so similar to a Panjabi legendary Sufi poet baba Bulleh Shah. He has written a celebrated piece “Bullah ki jana mai’n kaun”. (Bullah, i don’t know who I am)… and some of his verses are almost identical in content to this poem attributed to Rumi
https://sufipoetry.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/bulleya-ki-jana-main-kaun/
Rumi’s potery above might very well be Bullah Shah’s inspiration for his piece