With Us

Even if you're not a seeker,

still, follow us, keep searching with us.

Even if you don't know how

to play and sing, you'll become like us;

with us you'll start singing and dancing.

Even if you are Qarun, the richest of kings,

when you fall in love,

you'll become a beggar.

Though you are a sultan,

like us you'll become a slave.

One candle of this gathering

is worth a hundred candles; its light is as great.

Either you are alive or dead.

You'll come back to life with us.

Unbind your feet.

Show us your rose garden-

start laughing with your whole body,

like a rose, like us.

Put on the mantle for a moment

and see the ones whose hearts are alive.

Then, throw out your satin dresses

and cover yourself with a cloak, like us.

When a seed falls to the ground,

it germinates, grows, and becomes a tree:

if you understand these symbols,

you'll follow us, and fall to the ground, with us.

God's Shams of Tabriz says

to the heart buds,

"If your eyes are opened, you'll see the things worth seeing."

Rumi

(translated by Nevit Ergin with Camille Helminski)