Rumi’s Who says words with my mouth?

**The following poem is an original by Rumi as translated by Coleman Barks

Who Says Words With My Mouth?

 

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.

 

— Coleman Barks (tr.), The Essential Rumi (1995), p. 2  from Safa Anthology

 

Diary ni Gracia: At some point in our life, we find ourselves engaged in a situation not of our own volition. Some circumstances put us in either a barricaded zone or a vast freeway. As human beings we have our flaws and strengths and we are subjected to ridicule and appreciation.

No matter how simple, complicated or complex our situation is at present, let us be reminded of the One Supreme Being who continuously guides and strengthens us.