IGNORANCE

I didn’t know love would make me this
crazy, with my eyes
like the river Ceyhun
carrying me in its rapids
out to sea,where every bit
of shattered boat
sinks to the bottom.

An alligator lifts its head and swallows
the ocean, then the ocean
floor becomes
a desert covering
the alligator in
sand drifts.

Changes do
happen. I do not know how,
or what remains of what
has disappeared
into the absolute.

I hear so many stories
and explanations, but I keep quiet,
because I don’t know anything,
and because something I swallowed
in the ocean
has made me completely content
with ignorance.

Rumi The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing
Also known as: Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi, Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, جلال‌الدین محمد بلخى, Mevlana, Jalaluddin Rumi
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About Rumi

Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (جلال‌الدین محمد رومی) Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi (جلال‌الدین محمد بلخى)‎ (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273) was an Afghan philosopher, theologian, poet, teacher, and founder of the Mevlevi (or Mawlawi) order of Sufism; also known as Mevlana (Our Guide), Jalaluddin Rumi, or simply Rumi.

Biography information from Wikiquote

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Additional quotes by Rumi

I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God.

جسمنا يشبه مريم العذراء: كل واحد منا يحمل عيسى بداخله. لكن مالم تظهر فينا آلام المخاض فإن عيسانا لا يولد.

كيف يمكن أن يغادر هذا العالمَ جزءٌ من هذا العالم؟
كيف يمكن أن يترك البللُ المياه؟
ما يجرحك، يباركك…
الظلام شمعتك.
حدودك مسعاك.
يمكنني شرح ذلك، لكنْ قد ينكسرُ
الزجاجُ الذي يغطِّي قلبك
ولا شئء يُصلح ذلك.
هل تكفي هذه الكلمات
أو عليَّ أن أعصرَ منها أكثر؟