Come, Come Whoever You Are (Rumi)

"Come, Come Whoever You Are," is a wonderfully inviting song taking its text from a poem by Rumi (music by Lynn Ungar). A perennial favorite among Unitarian congregations, it is sung here by the Chancel Choir at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. As you can hear, it works beautifully as a round.

Come, come, whoever you are,
wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.
Ours is no caravan of despair.
Come, yet again come.

The original poem by Rumi is even more radical:

Come, Come whoever you are,
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving,
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a tousand times.
Come, yet again, come, come.



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One Through Love

"A short video segment from the One Through Love project featuring Coleman Barks on Longing in Rumi's poetry."

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Don't Go Back to Sleep

Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the door sill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

                                    ~ Rumi
                    (From The Essential Rumi by Coleman Barks)

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I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2)

The Sufi mystic Rumi wrote many poems about the mystery of relating to the sacred. In "Love Dogs," he indicates that one way to understand the spiritual longing we have is that the longing is for the longing itself.  Our crying out is sometimes the connection we need. The U2 hit, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for,” is an excellent example of this longing. Here it is presented by Bono along with a gospel choir in Harlem. (Scroll down to see Rumi’s poem, “Love Dogs.”)

Love Dogs

by Rumi

One night a man was crying Allah! Allah!

His lips grew sweet with praising,

until a cynic said, “So!

I’ve 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.

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What was Said to the Rose

Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī, better known in the English-speaking world as Rumi, was a Sufi who lived in 13th century Persia. He is today the best-selling poet in the United States. Coleman Barks has done remarkable work interpreting and communicating Rumi's poetry. This recitation with musical accompaniment illustrates why the Sufi poet is so popular today.

Coleman Barks performs a poem by Rumi, "What Was Said to the Rose" at one of the Mythic Journeys conferences. Musical accompaniment by Eugene Friesen and Arto Tuncboyaciyan.

 

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