Intermixed 

By Jalaluddin Rumi

See how love is intermixed with the lovers. 

See how the spirit and the clay are intermixed. 

How often are you going to see this and that, good 

    and evil? 

Look at the end and see how this and that are 

    intermixed. 

How long will you say the “known” and the 

   “unknown”? 

See that both are intermixed. 

How often do you say this world and the next? 

See that the two are intermixed. 

The heart appears like the King, and the tongue is its 

    interpreter. 

See how the King and the interpreter are intermixed. 

Mix with each other! As it is for our sake 

That this earth and sky are intermixed. 

See the fire and see the water! See the wind and see 

    the clay! 

Enemies they are, but as friends when intermixed. 

The gazelle and the lion, the ewe and the wolf, are 

    four opposites, 

but when they sense the Hunter near, all are 

    intermixed. 

What a King He is! In this garden, by His grace, 

thorns and flowers intermix. 

And look at this unique cloud; by its blessing, 

rainwater from many separate drainpipes flows 

    intermixed. 

See the unity in the creation and know that 

autumn and early spring are intermixed. 

Even though all of these opposites seem to clash, 

like the bow and the arrow all are intermixed 

Chew some sugar! Be silent and take heed!
As in the mouth, sugar and censure are intermixed. 

Thus does Shams of Tabriz grow in the heart.

No one is intermixed like this. 

By Jalaluddin Rumi (Divani Shamsi Tabrizi 2381), translated by Kabir Helminski and Ahmad Rezwani, in Love’s Ripening: Rumi on the Heart’s Journey (Shambhala Publications, 2008)