'Love Is The Only Food For A Starving Lover'

A poem by Rumi.
Translation by Solo Gak

A Sufi had his tablecloth hanging on a nail and was whirling and ripping his shirt off while yelling and crying out loud.
He was belting out these most heart wrenching tunes filled with tales of starvation and lack of medication for his incurable love pain.
As his moaning cries and passionate singing got louder and louder,
all the Sufis who heard his cries also joined him in whirling.
The Sufis then entered into this indescribable trance-like state of uproar,
becoming totally intoxicated, gone out of themselves in rapture and ecstasy.
There was one very nosy fellow who was keep bugging the ecstatic Sufi:
'What is this, you've laid out the cloth but no food on it?!'
The Sufi finally had to explain the reason:
'Love is the only food for a starving lover.
Without love, you're just a meaningless facade, go away.
You have no business being here at our sacred gathering, just go away.
If you're not in love yet, it's high time you go and find the love of your life.
Any lover who's truly in love can not be bound to a loveless way of life.
Lovers have absolutely no business with the existence,
They make profit from love without even having to invest in love.
The Sufis fly around the universe without wings, and return victorious from a
battlefield even with their hands tied up behind their backs.
A poor Dervish who has truly grasped the deep meaning of inner reality,
can weave baskets of love even with hands already cut off.
It's in the non-existence where lovers pitch their tents,
just like in the non-existence, lovers are also of ONE color and ONE essence.
Can a milk-sucking baby appreciate the beauty of a naked breast?
Can an Angel smell and differentiate between the tastes of different dishes?
Humans on the other hand can smell and easily differentiate between the tastes,
because a Human's superior quality is quite the opposite of an Angel's.
Even the non-smelling Angels become smell experts by the smell of love,
but you still can't smell love from a hundred bare-naked lovers like me.
For those Egyptians who sided with the Pharaoh, the Nile River turned to blood,
but for the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Nile turned into the most beautiful River.
The Red Sea became the path of salvation for the Twelve Tribes of Israel,
yet the same Sea swallowed and drowned Pharaoh and his fighting Army.'
Rumi.


Rumi's highly mystical and meaningful above teachings are based on the Biblical and Quranic teachings of Moses (peace be upon him) parting and crossing the Red Sea along with the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Within the Judeo-Christian teachings, the story of Moses and Pharaoh are related in details in the Holy Book of Bible -Book of Exodus in the Holy Old Testament (Holy Hebrew Bible), and within the Islamic teachings, Moses and Pharaoh and the Twelve Tribes of Israel are related in details in the Holy Verses of The Heights
-سوره پاك الاعراف در قرآن شريف-Surah Al-Aaraf or The Heights, and also in the Holy Verses of Bani-Isreal or Children of Israel-
سوره پاك بنی اسرائیل یا اسراء در قرآن شريف.


دفتر سوم-"از مثنوي معنوي حضرت مولانا جلال الدين بلخي "رومي
-قصهء عشق صوفی بر سفره‌ء تهی

صوفیی بر میخ روزی سفره دید
چرخ می‌زد جامه‌ها را می‌درید
بانگ می‌زد نک نوای بی‌نوا
قحطها و دردها را نک دوا
چونک دود و شور او بسیار شد
هر که صوفی بود با او یار شد
کخ‌کخی و های و هویی می‌زدند
تای چندی مست و بی‌خود می‌شدند
بوالفضولی گفت صوفی را که چیست
سفره‌ای آویخته وز نان تهیست
گفت رو رو نقش بی‌معنیستی
تو بجو هستی که عاشق نیستی
عشق نان بی نان غذای عاشق است
بند هستی نیست هر کو صادقست
عاشقان را کار نبود با وجود
عاشقان را هست بی سرمایه سود
بال نه و گرد عالم می‌پرند
دست نه و گو ز میدان می‌برند
آن فقیری کو ز معنی بوی یافت
دست ببریده همی زنبیل بافت
عاشقان اندر عدم خیمه زدند
چون عدم یک‌رنگ و نفس واحدند
شیرخواره کی شناسد ذوق لوت
مر پری را بوی باشد لوت و پوت
آدمی کی بو برد از بوی او
چونک خوی اوست ضد خوی او
یابد از بو آن پری بوی‌کش
تو نیابی آن ز صد من لوت خوش
پیش قبطی خون بود آن آب نیل
آب باشد پیش سبطی جمیل
جاده باشد بحر ز اسراییلیان
غرقه گه باشد ز فرعون عوان