The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Based on the Wikipedia article I really like Rumi. It is hard for me not to like a person who, despite claiming to be of a specific religion, finds other religions to be powerful and compelling.

"He does not offend anyone, and he includes everyone. The world of Rumi is neither exclusively the world of a Sufi, nor the world of a Hindu, nor a Jew, nor a Christian; it is the highest state of a human being — a fully evolved human. A complete human is not bound by cultural limitations; he touches every one of us. Today Rumi's poems can be heard in churches, synagogues, Zen monasteries, as well as in the downtown New York art/performance/music scene." According to Professor Majid M. Naini [5], Rumi's life and transformation provide true testimony and proof that people of all religions and backgrounds can live together in peace and harmony. Rumi’s visions, words, and life teach us how to reach inner peace and happiness so we can finally stop the continual stream of hostility and hatred and achieve true global peace and harmony."

Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions,

The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved (God).

The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes

Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.^[14

I am always impressed by people who not only preach something but also practice it. So many religions preach about love and yet so often it seems as though it is overlooked and instead people focus on right belief. Here Rumi seems more concerned with a persons actions than with what belief system they ascribe to.

The Rubaiyat poems were fascinating and I hate to think that I have to write some of my own, poetry is not my forte. But here are a few of the ones I liked. They have to do with existence and our actions while here on earth.

16 The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes--or it prospers; and anon
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face,
Lighting a little hour or two--is gone.

29 Into this Universe, and Why not knowing
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing;
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not Wither, willy-nilly blowing.

44 Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,
Were't not a Shame--were't not a Shame for him
In this clay carcass crippled to abide?


So we have the professional above and now below we will have the wannabe, in other words my attempt.

Take all that you cherish
Stand back and watch it perish
Do not shed a tear lest it show weakness
Instead define that which is lost as garish.

What is the point or our pride
Perhaps a way for us to hide
Fumbling behind our mask
Until with reality we collide

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Just as it is in the hands of the clay molder
But what of that which is false
Is beauty found in the purse of the card-holder