Whoever Brought Me Here

This poem was forwarded by Mr. Sanjib Basu from Kolkata in response to my earlier post "Facts or Fantasies". I have known Rumi as a great Sufi poet. But I have never ventured into reading his works. Thanks for building up my interest on Sufism.

Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207 - 1273)

Whoever Brought Me Here
Rumi


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.

Translation by Coleman Barks