Rumi is the name by which we remember Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, known also as Molavi or Molānā (“Master”). He was a 13th-century Persian poet and mystic of the Sufi tradition. His ecstatic poems about love and union with God have been widely translated. Below is one of his hundreds of four-line poems.
When my soul transforms into the never-ending sea,
The beauty of each fragment resplendent and clear,
Then I blaze like a candle on the road of holy love,
All my moments contained in that briefest of beats.
—translated by David Bowles
March 8, 2014
Original Farsi/Persian
Ân-vaqt ke bahr-é kôll shavad zât marâ,
rûshan ghardad jamâl-é zarrât marâ.
z-ân mî-sûzam chô sham’a tâ dar rah-é éshq,
yek vaqt shavad jômleh-é awqât marâ.