shared by Doug Nelson

In August 1985, a student at the University of Vermont named Doug Nelson posted three poems by the thirteenth-century Persian mystic Jalaluddin Rumi (1207–1273) to net.religion — one of the largest active Usenet groups of the era. Nelson had just come from a lecture by the Dalai Lama, and noted that Rumi's thought reminded him of what he had heard.

Rumi was then little known outside academic circles in the English-speaking world. The Coleman Barks translations that would make Rumi a twentieth-century bestseller were still years away. This post circulated Rumi on a global computer network at a time when his name would have been unfamiliar to most readers. The translations are by Reynold A. Nicholson (1868–1945), the great Cambridge scholar of Sufism whose work opened the Persian mystical tradition to the English-speaking world. Nicholson's translations are in the public domain.

The Song of the Reed is the opening of Rumi's great spiritual epic, the Masnavi. The reed flute, cut from its bed, weeps for its origin — the soul separated from its divine source. It is one of the foundational images of Islamic mysticism, and one of the most read poems of the Middle Ages.

The Song of the Reed

Hearken to the Reed forlorn,
Breathing, even since 'twas torn
From its rushy bed, a strain
Of impassioned love and pain.

"The secret of my song, though near,
None can see and none can hear.
Oh, for a friend to know the sign
And mingle all his soul with mine!

'Tis the flame of Love that fired me,
'Tis the wine of Love inspired me.
Wouldst thou learn how lovers bleed,
Hearken, hearken to the Reed!"

Mystics Know

Since Wisdom is the true believer's stray camel, he
knows it with certainty, from whomsoever he may have
heard of it.
And when he finds himself face to face with it, how should
there be doubt? How can he mistake?
If you tell a thirsty man — "Here is a cup of water: drink!" —
Will he reply? — "This is a mere assertion: let me alone,
O liar, go away."
Or suppose a mother cries to her babe, "Come, I am mother:
hark my child!" —
Will it say? — "Prove this to me, so that I may take comfort
in thy milk."
When in the heart of a people there is spiritual perception,
the face and voice of the prophet are as an evidentiary miracle.
When the prophet utters a cry from without, the soul of
the people falls to worship within,
Because never in the world will the soul's ear have heard
a cry of the same kind as his.
That wondrous voice is heard by the soul in exile —
the voice of God calling, "Lo, I am nigh."

No Monkery In Islam

"O Peacock, do not tear out thy feathers, but wean thy heart from
pride in them: the existence of a foe is indispensable
for waging the Holy War.
There cannot be self-restraint in the absence of desire:
when there is no adversary, what avails thy courage?
Hark, do not castrate thyself, do not become a monk:
chastity depends on the existence of lust.
The Divine command 'Eat ye' is the lure for appetite;
then comes 'Do not exceed': that is temperance.
Without the pain of self-denial there is no protasis;
hence the apodosis does not follow.
How admirable is that protasis and how delightful is that apodosis —
a recompense enchanting the heart and increasing the life of the
spirit!"

Colophon

Written by Jalaluddin Rumi (1207–1273), Konya, thirteenth century. Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson (1868–1945). Shared on net.religion by Doug Nelson, University of Vermont, August 1985.

The Song of the Reed opens Rumi's Masnavi-i Ma'nawi (Spiritual Couplets), a six-volume poem of around 25,000 verses. The Masnavi was composed in Konya (in modern Turkey) over the last two decades of Rumi's life and is one of the greatest works of Persian literature. The reed's lament for its severing from the reed bed is Rumi's central image for the soul's longing for reunion with God.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: [email protected].

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