Rumi: What Was Said To The Rose

Translated by Coleman Barks, in his book. ‘Rumi the Book of Love – poems of ecstasy and longing’.

What was said to the rose that made it open

was said to me here in my chest.

What was told to the cypress

that made it strong and straight,

what was whispered to the jasmine

“so it is what it is,”

whatever made sugarcane sweet;

whatever was said to the inhabitants

of the town of Chigil in Turkestan that makes

them so handsome, whatever lets the pomegranate

flower blush like a human face,

that is being said to me now.

I blush.

Whatever put eloquence in language, that’s happening here.

The great warehouse doors open; I fill with gratitude,

chewing a piece of sugarcane, in love with the one

to whom every ‘that’ belongs!

What was said to the rose that made it open,

was said to me

here

in my

chest.