“I pressed my soul’s ear
against countless doors
but never heard words as sweet as yours.”

My soul’s ear… what an exquisite turn of phrase. It leads me to explore more deeply. What do I hear with my soul’s ear? I can feel in a real way that search from door to door, that hunger to hear those sweetest words of all once again.

Life in this skin suit is so loud at times. What sweet words can break through the patter and distraction of daily life and speak to me in such an intimate way?

My Beloved’s words… all those other doors were false, at best.

Thanks for the bit about the significance of “saaqi.” I didn’t know that. It enriches the whole experience of this poem.

“Why should I seek?—
All I need do is love…”

Wow. I think I need to place that couplet in my environment for awhile, to remind me of its truth. :)

I’m really digging that couplet now that you pointed it out. I mean yes, I read it but to see it isolated like that really drove the point home.

I had to wait a bit to reply because I wanted to look up saki in my one Ottoman reference to make sure I got it totally right. I thought I’d add this bit I had from the notes-

” in mystical poetry this beloved (saki) is the master who pours out the intoxicating wine of Divine Love, which causes the adept to let go of reason and turn to the unreasoning logic of the heart… “
Ottoman Lyric Poetry, Andrews, Black, Kalpakli, University of Texas Press, 1997, ISBN-0-292-70472-0

It’s sort of exciting, the book I quoted the poem from from because it explains a lot of the symbolisim behind Rumi’s poetry, which deepens the meanings. You can read it once in the literal and then, when you apply the mystic symbolisim, you get a whole new meaning. Each poem is swathed in layers of meaning. Oooh, I’m getting all excited about Rumi again. ^^