The sweet burn of love for me.
O master, protect me!
You are Noah, you are the soul,
you are the slayer and the slain.
You are the treasure of knowledge –
O master, open your secret door for me!
You are the light and the celebration;
the land rejoicing in victory.
You are the great bird of Mount Sinai –
O master, don't drop me from your beak!
You are the ocean, and the shore;
a kind word, and a heart
filled with despair.
You are the sugar and the poison –
O master, more sugar and less poison!
You are the orb of the Sun,
and the house of Venus,
You are the light of hope
that touches the world.
O master, open up and let me see you!
You are the pain of hunger
and the crumbs of every beggar.
You are the water oveflowing.
O master, fill my empty cup!
You are the bait and the trap,
the wine and the glass.
You are the heat
and the bread in the oven.
O master, don't leave me unbaked!
This body is not fast enough
to reach the end
of Love's path.
Let me enter that emptiness –
O master, take away all these words of mine.
Rumi
Ode 37
Version/translation by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
"A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
Bantam Books, 1992
