Who has read the Sufi poet, Rumi?

[CTyankee]

I have studied his poetry, as translated by Coleman Barks.

One of my favorite quotes is

"Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy,
absentminded. Someone sober
will wory about things going badly.
Let the lover be."

What is your favorite Rumi quote?

[Agnomen]

1. My fave Rumi quote:

"Out beyond ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. I'll meet you there."

[CTyankee]

2. Wonderful. Did you read him in school?

I only discovered him in graduate school a few years ago. I really didn't know what I was missing. He is transfiguring!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Rumi and Coleman Barks

Many of Rumi's poems have been set to music and even made into Dances by various Sufis. My favorite lines come from "The Reed"-

Oh for a friend who knows the sign
Who'll mingle all their soul with mine!

If memory hasn't forsaken me, I believe Coleman Barks is a Sufi initiate. His interpretations of the words of Mevlana (Rumi) are, indeed, nectar for the soul.

[Agnomen]

4. Coleman Barks doesn't translate Rumi

He's a poet. He takes others' literal translations into English and makes them into poetry.
Charming man, very witty conversationalist,but don't believe he's a Sufi initiate.
Other good translators are Shahram Shiva - who really does the translating (he's also a wonderful performance artist), Kabir Helminski, Annemarie Schimmel, Robert Bly, Gerald Clinton.

[HB1]

5. Here's one I like

We should try to wake up and look with the clear Eye of the water we float upon.

[HB1]

6. Another one

Also from a Coleman Barks book on Rumi poems, like the previous quote:

"There is a moving palace that floats through the air,
with balconies and clear water running in every part of it,
infinity everywhere, yet contained under a single tent."

7. I don't know the exact words but something about your home is where you

are going. Don't be attached to your country, or your familiar surroundings, or you might wind up in the frying pan. When it is time to flee, go and don't think about it.

Also never regret anything. As soon as it is done, forget it. Don't even think about it once.