A Rumi Poem

Inside Dome of the Blue Mosque, Sultan Ahmad, Istanbul

“Oh, if a Tree Could Wander”

Oh, if a tree could wander and move with foot and wings!
It would not suffer the axe blows and not the pain of saws!
For would the sun not wander away in every night?
How could at ev’ry morning the world be lighted up?
And if the ocean’s water would not rise to the sky,
How would the plants be quickened by streams and gentle rain?
The drop that left its homeland, the sea, and then returned?
It found an oyster waiting and grew into a pearl.
Did Yusuf not leave his father, in grief and tears and despair?
Did he not, by such a journey, gain kingdom and fortune wide?
Did not the Prophet travel to far Madina, friend?
And there he found a new kingdom and ruled a hundred lands.
You lack a foot to travel?
Then journey into yourself!
And like a mine of rubies receive the sunbeams’ print!
Out of yourself? Such a journey will lead you to your self,
It leads to transformation of dust into pure gold!

Jalaluddin Rumi
Translated by Annemarie Schimmel