Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi - Because I Cannot Sleep

Written: cca. 1207-1273

Poem:

Because I cannot sleepI make music at night.I am troubled by the onewhose face has the color of spring flowers.I have neither sleep nor patience,neither a good reputation nor disgrace.A thousand robes of wisdom are gone.All my good manners have moved a thousand miles away.The heart and the mind are left angry with each other.The stars and the moon are envious of each other.Because of this alienation the physical universeis getting tighter and tighter.The moon says, "How long will I remainsuspended without a sun?"Without Love's jewel inside of me,let the bazaar of my existence be destroyed stone by stone.O Love, You who have been called by a thousand names,You who know how to pour the wineinto the chalice of the body,You who give culture to a thousand cultures,You who are faceless but have a thousand faces,O Love, You who shape the facesof Turks, Europeans, and Zanzibaris,give me a glass from Your bottle,or a handful of being from Your Branch.Remove the cork once more.Then we'll see a thousand chiefs prostrate themselves,and a circle of ecstatic troubadours will play.Then the addict will be freed of craving.and will be resurrected,and stand in awe till Judgement Day.

Credits: Jalal al-Din Rumi, 1207-1273