Yunus Emre: My life came and went...

My life came and went
like the wind, between the opening
and closing of an eye.
As Truth is my witness
the soul is the body's guest.
A day is going to come when
like a bird, it flies out of the cage.

The poor sons of Adam have sown
their seeds across the earth.
Some grew and some were lost.
My insides burn in the world,
my essence is afire. Some die young,
cut down like wheat still green.

If you visit the sick
or bring someone water,
tomorrow you'll be served
the wine of Truth.
If you give your clothes
to the poor, tomorrow
you'll be wearing astral clothes.
Yunus Emre, they say only two people
stay in the world forever--
Khidr and Elias, who drink the water of life.

-- Yunus Emre, 13th-14th century Turkish Sufi poet. From The Drop That Became The Sea, translated from the Turkish by Kabir Helminski and Refik Algan.

A Short Poem by Rumi

In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest
where no-one sees you,

but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.

-- Jalaluddin Rumi