Coleman Barks reads from his translation of Rumi at Dodge

http://youtu.be/eTFsUQZcSJU

Video courtesy of PoetryEverywherePTV  

Coleman Barks reads reads his translation of 13th-century Persian poet Rumi. as part of the Poetry Everywhere project airing on public television — produced by David Grubin Productions and WGBH Boston, in association with the Poetry Foundation. Filmed at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.  For more information, visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere.

For more Coleman Barks, visit http://www.colemanbarks.com.

Man the Macrocosm (by Jalālu’l-Dīn Rūmī)

Man the Macrocosm
by Jalālu’l-Dīn Rūmī

From the pure star-bright souls replenishment is ever coming to the stars of heaven.
Outwardly we are ruled by these stars, but our inward nature has become the ruler of the skies.
Therefore, while in form thou art the microcosm, in reality thou art the macrocosm.
Externally the branch is the origin of the fruit; 
        intrinsically the branch came into existence for the sake of the fruit.
Had there been no hope of the fruit, would the gardener have planted the tree?
Therefore in reality the tree is born of the fruit, though it appears to be produced by the tree.
Hence Mohammed said, “Adam and all the prophets march behind me under my banner.”
Hence that Master of every lore uttered the mystic saying, “We are the hindmost and the foremost:”
That is to say, “If seemingly I am born of Adam, yet in truth I am the ancestor of every ancestor.
Since the angels worshipped him for my sake, and he ascended to the Seventh Heaven on my account,
Therefore Father Adam was really born of me: the tree was born of the fruit.
The idea, which is first, comes last into actuality, in particular the idea that is eternal.”

[Mathnawī IV, 519]

English translation by Reynold A. Nicholson
Taken from Selected Poems of Rūmī, published by Dover in 2001



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The Necessary Foil (by Rumi)

The Necessary Foil
by Jalālu’l-Dīn Rūmī

Privation and defect, wherever seen,
Are mirrors of the beauty of all that is.
The bone-setter, where should he try his skill
But on the broken limb?  The tailor where?
Not, surely on the well-cut finished coat.
Were no base copper in the crucible,
How could the alchemist his craft display?

[Mathnawī I, 3201]

English translation by Reynold A. Nicholson
Taken from Selected Poems of Rūmī, published by Dover in 2001



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The Soul of Goodness in Things Evil (by Rumi)

The Soul of Goodness in Things Evil
by Jalālu’l-Dīn Rūmī

Fools take false coins because they are like the true.
If in the world no genuine minted coin
Were current, how would forgers pass the false?
Falsehood were nothing unless truth were there,
To make it specious.  ‘Tis the love of right
Lures men to wrong.  Let poison but be mixed
With sugar, they will cram it into their mouths.
Oh, cry not that all creeds are vain!  Some scent
Of truth they have, else they would not beguile.
Say not, “How utterly fantastical!”
No fancy in the world is all untrue.
Amidst the crowd of dervishes hides one,
One true fakir.  Search well and thou wilt find!

[Mathnawī II, 2928]

English translation by Reynold A. Nicholson
Taken from Selected Poems of Rūmī, published by Dover in 2001



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