The Glance: Songs of Soul-Meeting

by Rumi, Coleman Barks (Translator), Nevit Ergin (Translator)

Overview

In 1244, the brilliant poet Rumi and the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz met and immediately fell into a deep spiritual connection. The Glance taps a major, yet little explored theme in Rumi's poetry-the mystical experience that occurs in the meeting of the eyes of the lover and the beloved, parent and child, friend and soul mate.

Coleman Barks's new translations of these powerful and complex poems capture Rumi's range from the ethereal to the everyday. They reveal the unique place of human desire, love, and ecstasy, where there exists not just the union of two souls, but the crux of the universe.

Here is a new kind of love lyric for our time-one of longing, connection, and wholeness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141002316
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/28/2001
Series:	Compass Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	814,987
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Called 'Jelaluddin Balkhi' by the Persians and Afghans, Rumi was born on September 30, 1207, in Balkh, Afghanistan, then a part of the Persian Empire. Between 1215 and 1220, he and his family fled the threat of the invading Mongols and emigrated to Konya, Turkey; it was sometime after this that he became known as 'Rumi' meaning 'from Roman Anatolia'. His father, Bahauddin Walad, was a theologian and a mystic, and after his death Rumi took over the role of sheikh in the dervish learning community in Konya. Rumi pursued the life of an orthodox religious scholar until 1244 when he encountered the wandering dervish, Shams of Tabriz. After an exchange of religious ideas Shams and Rumi became inseparable friends, transported into a world of pure, mystical, conversation. This intense relationship left Rumi's students feeling neglected, and, feeling the ill-will, Shams disappeared. After news of Shams came from Damascus, Rumi's son was sent to bring him back, and the mystical conversation, or sohbet, began again. After Shams' second disappearance (he was probably murdered), and a period spent searching for his lost friend, Rumi came to the conclusion that Shams was now a part of him. Further concluding that when he wrote poetry it was Shams writing through him, he called his huge collection of odes and quatrains The Works of Shams of Tabriz. Following Shams' death Rumi had two other mystical companions, firstly Saladin Zarkub, a goldsmith, and then, after Saladin's death, Husam Chelebi, Rumi's scribe and student. It was Husam that Rumi declared the source of his vast six-volume masterwork Mathnawi. After twelve years of work on this masterpiece Rumi died on December 17, 1273.
Colemam Barks taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia for thirty years and has been a student of Sufism since 1977. The translator of numerous Rumi works, his work with the poet was featured in an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers's Language of Life series. He lives in Athens, Georgia.

Table of Contents

	Introduction: A Soul-Friendship	xi
	Jars of Springwater	1
	The Taste of Morning	2
	An Invisible Bee	3
	A General Introductory Lecture	4
	Hamza's Nothing	5
	The Verge of Tears	6
	Grainy Taste	7
	Tambourine Feet	8
	The Mirror Between Us	9
	In Love that Long	10
	Green from Inside	11
	I See My Beauty in You	12
	Underwater in the Fountain	13
	Playing and Being Played	14
	Friday	15
	Drowsy	16
	Continuously	17
	An Armor of Roses	18
	The Pleiades	20
	Would You Bow?	21
	Ashes, Wanderers	22
	The Day's Great Wooden Bowl	23
	So We Can Have What We Want	24
	Entering the Shell	26
	You Are As You Are	27
	Birds Nesting near the Coast	28
	As Lakewater Rises in Mist	29
	More Is Required	30
	Two Days of Silence	31
	Your Morning Shade	32
	What's Not Here	33
	Inside the Rose	34
	A Walking Fire	36
	The Knots Untie	37
	The Shine in the Fields	39
	I Am Not This	40
	Fierce Courtesy	41
	A Smile and a Gentleness	42
	Out in Empty Sky	43
	Wooden Walking Stick	44
	A World Dense with Greeting	45
	Spring Murmur	47
	Everyone Outdoors Talking	49
	Daring Enough to Finish	51
	What I See in Your Eyes	52
	Music Is My Zikr	53
	More of Your Names	54
	Even Better	55
	Thorn Witness	56
	Transparent Tree	57
	The Self We Share	58
	Hoofbeats	60
	Raw, Well-Cooked, Burnt	62
	Both Worlds	63
	God in the Stew	64
	Undressing	65
	Silkworms	66
	Musk in a Small Box	67
	Why and Where We Go	68
	A Voice Through the Door	69
	Solomon Ant	70
	As Fish Drink the Ocean	71
	What Is the Heart?	72
	A Great Rose Tree	74
	Word Fog	75
	Stranded Somewhere	76
	Too Vast for Partnership	77
	What Have You Been Drinking?	78
	Fastened to a Pole	79
	Saladin	80
	Ready for Silence	81
	A Man Talking to His House	83
	Every Tree	85
	I Met One Traveling	86
	Autumn Rose Elegy	87
	The Bright Core of Failure	88
	Listening	90
	Notes	93
	A Note on the Translation	95
	References	97

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Barks's translation is fluid and clear, further strengthening his reputation as one of the foremost Rumi experts writing in English today." —Kirkus Reviews

"Here are some of the most beautiful love lyrics ever spoken....Barks's translations are justly famous for their bell-like clarity and sharp simplicity. A highly desirable book, in all senses of desire." —Booklist

Editorial Reviews

"Barks's translation is fluid and clear, further strengthening his reputation as one of the foremost Rumi experts writing in English today." —Kirkus Reviews

"Here are some of the most beautiful love lyrics ever spoken....Barks's translations are justly famous for their bell-like clarity and sharp simplicity. A highly desirable book, in all senses of desire." —Booklist

From the Publisher