I will run fast and will keep running until

By Jalaluddin Rumi

I will run fast and will keep running until
            I catch up with the riders.
I will dissolve into air and become nothing
            so I can reach my Beloved.
       I will become fire, burn my house
               and head for the desert.
I will become all pain, so I can be healed.
 I will become humble and turn into soil
       so your flowers can grow in me.
 I will kiss the ground and become water
      so I can flow to your rose garden.
I will my face shine like a gold coin
 so I can become worthy of my Beloved.
 I came in this world helpless and fearful 
                    but at the end of this journey I will find safety.
      The blessing of truth is like water
                it flows downstream. 
                 I came to this earth so that I can find the way back
                     to my Beloved. 

By Jalaluddin Rumi, translated by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi in Rumi: Hidden Music, Maryam Mafi & Azima Melita Kolin, tr. (Harper/Element, 2009)

Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

© Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi, 2009