The Persistent Pursuit of Love

Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, and Sufi mystic.

His poetic writings on divine love, the human soul and the unity of all things have become precious to me.

Here is one of his on the persistent pursuit of Love.

No one can escape it. Not even you, or the worst person you know.

You found me once again,

you thief of hearts. In drunken ecstasy,

you searched the bazaar and found me.

Even through sleepy-lidded, Love-drunk eyes,

you spotted me. I ran to the tavern.

You found me.

Why do I run when no one can escape you?

Why hide when you've found me a hundred times?

I thought I could lose you in a crowd of people.

But you find me even in crowds of secrets,

even behind my own masks.

What a blessing to be sought and found by your eyes.

What luck to be caught in your twists and turns—

loving seer, persistent seer,

towering cypress of countless gardens,

I was pulling a thorn from my foot

when you found me.

You showered me with flowers

from your fertile beds.

Dear nightingale,

your melodies opened my ears.

Like a ladle wanting its fill of light,

I plunged into the moon's halo.

At the bottom of that bottomless pot, you found me.

Like a deer fleeing a lion, I ran through the desert.

Deep in the mountains, you found me.

Wounded, I shed my blood on every path.

You followed the drops and found me.

I was a hooked fish writhing in the waves.

At the end of the line, you found me.

You roam the skies and catch galloping deer.

With all that skill and patience,

you found me.

The moment you found me,

you gave me a cup brimming with Love's wine,

heavy enough to match the weight on my soul.

Every sip lightened it.

Every sip, a balm.

I drank till empty.

My soul took flight.

I have no mind, no ear, no tongue today.

The source of thought and word found me.

Rumi, Gold, pgs 45-6