Rumi Bridge to the soul : journeys into the music and silence of the heart

At least half a dozen poets and scholars could claim partial responsibility for the remarkable renaissance in the study of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Islamic poet/mystic and favored saint of Sufism. He has now surpassed Rainer Maria Rilke and Khalil Gibran as the poet of the spiritual seeker. Barks (The Essential Rumi) is arguably the most eminent of these writers, and his book, issued in celebration of Rumi's 800th birthday, presents 90 new translations of Rumi's ecstatic insights, most never before published. Barks's translations are no less incandescent than those that have come before; his long introduction speaks eloquently of his commitment to Rumi and of the strangeness of his quest in the context of a very changed Middle East. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Rumi: Bridge to the Soul Journeys into the Music and Silence of the Heart Chapter One A Bowl Fallen From the Roof You that give new life to this planet, you that transcend logic, come. I am only an arrow. Fill your bow with me and let fly. Because of this love for you my bowl has fallen from the roof. Put down a ladder and collect the pieces, please. People ask, But which roof is your roof? I answer, Wherever the soul came from and wherever it goes at night, my roof is in that direction. From wherever spring arrives to heal the ground, from wherever searching rises in a human being. The looking itself is a trace of what we are looking for. But we have been more like the man who sits on his donkey and asks the donkey where to go. Be quiet now and wait. It may be that the ocean one, the one we desire so to move into and become, desires us out here on land a little longer, going our sundry roads to the shore. Rumi: Bridge to the Soul Journeys into the Music and Silence of the Heart . Copyright © by Coleman Barks. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Rumi - Bridge to the Soul: Journeys into the Music and Silence of the Heart by Coleman Barks All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.