A Rumi Poem: A Garden Beyond Paradise

Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world.
The forms may change,
    yet the essence remains the same.

Every wondrous sight will vanish, every sweet word will fade.
    But do not be disheartened,
The Source they come from is eternal—
growing, branching out,
    giving new life and new joy.

Why do you weep?—
That Source is within you,
and this whole world
    is springing up from it.

The Source is full, its waters are ever-flowing;
    Do not grieve,
    drink your fill!
Don't think it will ever run dry—
This is the endless Ocean!

From the moment you came into this world,
a ladder was placed in front of you
    that you might transcend it.

From earth, you became plant,
from plant you became animal.
Afterwards you became a human being,
endowed with knowledge, intellect and faith.

Behold the body, born of dust—
    how perfect it has become!

Why should you fear its end?
When were you ever made less by dying?

When you pass beyond this human form,
no doubt you will become an angel
and soar through the heavens!

But don't stop there.
Even heavenly bodies grow old.

Pass again from the heavenly realm
    and plunge into the ocean of Consciousness.
Let the drop of water that is you
    become a hundred mighty seas.

But do not think that the drop alone
becomes the Ocean—
    the Ocean, too, becomes the drop!

~ Jelaluddin Rumi

"A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"
(translated by Jonathan Star), Bantam Books, NY, 1992.

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