In honor of V-Day...

and my hopeless romanticism, I will post some of my favorite love poems throughout the week. Here are several from one the most profound poets I've come to know. Rumi.

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If anyone asks you how the perfect satisfaction of all our sexual wanting will look, lift your face and say,

Like this.

When someone mentions the gracefulness of the nightsky, climb up on the roof and dance and say,

Like this.

If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is, or what "God’s fragrance" means, lean your head toward him or her.Keep your face there close.

Like this.

When someone quotes the old poetic image about clouds gradually uncovering the moon, slowly loosen knot by knot the strings of your robe.

Like this.

If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead, don’t try to explain the miracle. Kiss me on the lips.

Like this. Like this.

When someone asks what it means to "die for love," point here.

If someone asks how tall I am, frown and measure with your fingers the space between the creases on your forehead. This tall.

The soul sometimes leaves the body, then returns. When someone doesn’t believe that, walk back into my house.

Like this.

When lovers moan, they’re telling our story.

Like this.

I am a sky where spirits live. Stare into this deepening blue, while the breeze says a secret.

Like this.

When someone asks what there is to do, light the candle in his hand.

Like this.

How did Joseph’s scent come to Jacob?
Huuuuu.
How did Jacob’s sight return?
Huuuu.
A little wind cleans the eyes.

Like this.

When Shams comes back from Tabriz, he’ll put just his head around the edge of the door to surprise us.

Like this.
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The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,
they're in each other all along.
..........................................................................................................................................................................
I have phrases and whole pages memorized,
but nothing can be told of love.
You must wait until you and I
are living together.
In the conversation we'll have
then...be patient...then.
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When the sweet glance of my true love caught my eyes,
Like alchemy, it transformed my copper-like soul.
I searched for Him with a thousand hands,
He stretched out His arms and clutched my feet.
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When it's cold and raining,
you are more beautiful.
And the snow brings me
even closer to your lips.
The inner secret, that which was never born,
you are that freshness, and I am with you now.
I can't explain the goings,
or the comings. You enter suddenly,
and I am nowhere again.
Inside the majesty.
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With the Beloved's water of life, no illness remains
In the Beloved's rose garden of union, no thorn remains.
They say there is a window from one heart to another
How can there be a window where no wall remains?
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Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy,
absentminded. Someone sober
will worry about things going badly.
Let the lover be