Friday, April 10, 2009

Rumi & the best of friends

Bismillah.

Today a handful of sweet-natured friends sent their warm wishes to me for having set up this space. Their words if I could taste would be like honey.

Look for sweet-natured friends for they are a true blessing indeed. These are friends who would have you in their hearts when you are long gone. This posting is to honor one of my sweet-natured friends. She is a friend who visited the holy tomb of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi in Turkey and thought of no one but me. I have written a poem to commemorate her visit to such a special place and for having remembered me.

Ah, but who knew better about friendship than Rumi and Shamsi Tabriz?


Yesil Turbe (The Green Tomb)
Indeed thou tomb in my heart buried
In it, is what is in it
'Fihi ma fihi' as you had said it
No one can unearth the corpse of my love
Though ruptured
802 years have gone blurred
I can't say but one thing
That we share a September quatrain
Not in vain
It was not I who visited you O father Rumi
It was my soul perched on the minds of a dear friend
For when she saw you
She saw you with my very own eyes
My heart was in hers, intertwined
And you should smile
Seeing tears welled in my eyes
Just listening to her say your name
Because in my heart you remain
How could you be wrong?
When the epitaph at Yesil Turbe says:
“When we are dead,
seek not our tomb in the earth,
but find it in the hearts of men.”
- 31 January 2009

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