Coleman Barks performs a poem by Rumi, "Love Dogs" at one of the Mythic Journeys conferences. Musical accompaniment by Eugene Friesen and Arto Tuncboyaciyan.
GD Star Rating
loading...
loading...
Previous post: Osceola County FL Pets of the Week - Sylvie and Caroline
Next post: Saaran Juhannus 2011 5
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
thank you!!
namaste.
“To those love dogs out there who have not been getting a message back”: To those out there who have been praying and suffering, You are being heard, you are being heard. just be patient your pain and suffering is your connection to the divine, your “secret cup” .
Do you feel it? Stop listening to it and start feeling it. Once you stop listening to it and start feeling it then you start waking up and once you start waking up then you start listening.
“There are love dogs no one knows the names of….give your life to be one of them.”
The music …..amazing!
Coleman Barks has a depth of talent, and brings very old words back to modern times.
Sad that some people feel a desperate need to make themselves part of the performance. “Somehow I must be able to get some attention out of this.”
Speechless! My soul, my soul on fire!
Rumi is beyond time, beyond this place, beyond country, beyond personhood…ahhh.
Rumi has nothing to do with Mongol Turks. He just accidentally died there! He is From khorasan where is a part of Iran and now a part of Afghanistan. He is Persian. His poems are all in Persian.
One night a man was crying,
Allah! Allah!
His lips grew sweet with the praising,
until a cynic said,
“So! I have heard you
calling out, but have you ever
gotten any response?”
The man had no answer to that.
He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.
He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,
in a thick, green foliage.
“Why did you stop praising?
“Because I’ve never heard anything back.”
“This longing
you express is the return message.”
The grief you cry out from
draws you toward union.
Your pure sadness
that wants help
is the secret cup.
Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.
There are love dogs
no one knows the names of.
Give your life
to be one of them.
Rumi transcended race through love. Let us do the same and leave our egos behind.
The wonderful thing about poetry is that it can mean different things to the reader. Our prayers go up to God. Our spirit moans with yearning for God’s presence. It is the that yearning itself that is our answer to our prayer. It is the fact that we do yearn for God that pleases God. To be as that faithful dog moaning and crying for his master … to love God that much is the goal.
Joe my basenji loves hearing this
hizir in turkish and the balkan muslims
Rumi was great Afghan, along with many others who came out of Balkh.
My friend Bernie turned me on to this poem….so beautiful. Thank you Bernie. oxoxox
One has to understand that when the poem was written (in the first quarter of the 20th century) all Muslim countries (with the only exception of Turkey and Afghanistan) were partially or completely colonized by the West. The full title of the book is:
(The Strike of Moses: i.e. Declaration of War Against the Modern Age)
Iqbal was deeply disturbed by how the Middle East was colonized by the West during and after the WW1.
Thanks.
It is first of 6 lines of the poem Kaafir-o Momin (non-believer and believer), in the context of colonialism:
Yesterday Khizar told me over the riverbank,
You are seeking an antidote for the colonizing West?
I have a point like a sword,
Piercing, polished, shiny, and illuminating,
The characteristic of a non-believer is that he is lost in the universe,
The characteristic of a be believer is that the universe is lost in him.
(From: Zarb-e Kaleem, i.e. the strike of Moses)
please translate kal saahil-e darya pe kaha mujh se Khizar ney?
His best performance of Rumi’s work is an interview with Bill Moyers called “Love’s Confusing Joy”. I can’t find it on DVD in decent quality, but the VHS is so worth it! This is a wonderful example, but it pales in comparison to that interview and performance. Thanks!
For those of you who are wondering what Mr. Barks says at 1:57. He means Khidar (pronounced Khizar in some languages like Urdu). In the Middle Eastern poetry, he is “the guide”, who can help at times. Like Iqbal says: “kal saahil-e darya pe kaha mujh se Khizar ney”,
super! very impressive and touchable by heart
ALLAH O AKHBAR
THank Coleman Barks for bringing such Beauty to the West.
This is remarkable. There’s so much good in this world. Sometimes I wonder where have I been that I have not seen it. Here am I now.
You must log in to post a comment.