WHO SAYS WORDS WITH MY MOUTH?

WHO SAYS WORDS WITH MY MOUTH?

By Jalaluddin Rumi

Translated by Coleman Barks

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.
I don't plan it.
When I'm outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

Jalluddin Rumi was the most famous 13th century poet of Persia. Rumi was the Emperor Akbar's favourite poet.

The above poem is a beautiful and enchanting meditation on our true identity. The simplicity of the poem resonates. It appears that Rumi composed his poems in a trance like state of revelation.

From : Essential Rumi by Rumi, Coleman Barks (Translator)