I was dead, I became alive; I was weeping, I became laughing;
the power of love came, and I became everlasting power.
    My eye is satiated, my soul is bold, I have the heart of a lion, I
have become shining Venus.
    He said, "You are not mad, you are not appropriate to this
house"; I went and became mad, I became bound in shackles.

    He said, "You are not intoxicated; go, for you belong not to
this party"; I went and became intoxicated, I became overflowing
with joy.
    He said, "You are not slain, you are not drenched in joy";
before his life-giving face I became slain and cast down.
    He said, "You are a clever little man, drunk with fancy and
doubt"; I became a fool, I became straightened, I became 
plucked up out of all.
    He said, "You have become a candle, the qibla of this assem-
bly"; I am not of assembly, I am not candle, I have become
scattered smoke.
    He said, "You are shaikh and headman, you are leader and
guide"; I am not shaikh, I am not leader, I have become slave
to your command.
    He said, "You have pinions and wings, I will not give you
wings and pinions"; in desire for his pinions and wings I became 
wingless and impotent*.
    New fortune said to me, "Go not on the way, do not become
pained, for  out of grace and generosity I am now coming to you."
    Old love said to me, "Do not move from my breast"; I said,
"Yes, I will not, I am at rest and remain."
    You are the fountain of the sun, I am the shadow of the
willow; when You strike my head, I become low and melting.
    My heart felt the glow of the soul, my heart opened and split,
my heart wove a new satin, I became enemy of this ragged one.
    The form of the soul at dawn swaggered insolently; I was a
slave and an ass-driver, I became king and lord.
    Your paper gives thanks for your limitless sugar, for it came
into my embrace, and I dwelt in it.
    My darkling earth gives thanks for my bent sky and sphere,
 for through its gaze and circling I became light-receiving.
    The sphere of heaven gives thanks for king and kingdom and
angel, for through his generosity and bounty I have become
bright and bountiful.
    The gnostic of God gives thanks that we have outraced all;
above the seven layers* I have become a shining star.
    I was Venus, I became the moon, I became the two hundred-
fold sky; I was Joseph, henceforth I have become the waxing 
Joseph*.
    Famous moon, I am yours, look upon me and yourself, for
from the trace of your smile I have become a smiling rosegarden.
    Move silently like a chessman, yourself all tongue, for through
the face* of the king of the world I have become happy and 
blissful.


    
* "Impotent": i.e. "plucked clean of feathers."
* "The seven layers": the seven heavens.
* Joseph, after coming up from the well, waxed in beauty and
  power.
* "The face": a pun on "rukh", which also means "rook".


Translation by A.J. Arberry
Mystical Poems of Rumi, 1
University of Chicago