Daniel Ladinsky & Marwa Adel: Rumi

Marwa Adel, The Cycle of Life - The Culturium — Marwa Adel, *The Cycle of Life*.
Photograph: © Marwa Adel

Unity with the Sun

It decided to remain at a precise distance from the
earth, the sun,

knowing if it came as close as it really wanted,
life as we know it would not survive and evolve the
way God wished.

There is a radiance in me I need to veil, keep in a
distant sky from most everyone, so that I do not
turn you into ash.
—Daniel Ladinsky, excerpt from “Help Me Figure This Out”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

RENOWNED FOR HIS profound renderings of mystical poetry, American writer Daniel Ladinsky captures the beauty, intimacy and musicality of one of Islam’s most beloved poets and spiritual thinkers, Jalal al-Din Rumi. Marwa Adel, award-winning Egyptian photographer and visual artist, finds similar inspiration from her Middle-Eastern heritage exploring the rhythms of human existence in her photographic series, The Cycle of Life.

Together, in an exclusive collaboration for The Culturium, their exquisitely executed verse and pictures form the perfect complement through which to express both the love and admiration Rumi had for his companion and spiritual teacher, Shams-e Tabriz, as well as the artistic appreciation of the One Being and Source of all, making a befitting companion piece to their previous endeavour celebrating the work of the Sufi poet Hafiz.

I died as mineral and became a plant, I died as plant
and rose to animal,

I died as creatures on hoofs and with feathers and look,
look … I became a beautiful woman, I became a
beautiful man.

What should we fear, darlings? When were we ever less
by dying?
—Daniel Ladinsky, excerpt from “The Ascending Soul”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

I am a painter, a maker of the seen and the hidden.
Every day I shape sublime forms. And then, when
God comes to view them … they and I melt away
in Him.

Every phantom knows it lives in my kingdom, and
if I wanted, I could make anything vanish so easily
from any distance, like wax in a flame.

I am both mingled with all and also magnificently
sovereign. This dual state of being and not being
are tides … I let ebb and flow.
—Daniel Ladinsky, excerpt from “The Partner of Your Affection”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

Be like the river that breaks out of its confining mold and floods
upon our needs and longings—with generosity.

Learn the ways of the day candle (the sun) that has concluded
everyone deserves its light, which when felt deeply will bring
about the conception, the growth, of spirit’s abundance and
harmony in us.

Starve your tongue of any sounds that demean another. Let
your eyes be as the night that can conceal so much of what
the day heard. Please, allow your face to show us your soul’s
peace and beauty.
—Daniel Ladinsky, excerpt from “The Seven Pillars of Rumi”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

Those precious words of hope that entered this world from
our souls,

heaven saw them. They were not allowed to die. They were
too giving and beautiful.

Love is not a singular event in the luminous dome or upon
this radiant earth

that can rise and fall like a comet and is then never seen again …
or rarely talked about.

For when a heart is most in need, we will come back. We
will caress any face that turns in our direction. We will want
them to join us. Join us!
—Daniel Ladinsky, excerpt from “Your Breath Upon Me”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

I would give my life for this: for one line of verse so rich, and
full of salvation, thousands would remember it as if it were their
own name.

And if they, or a cherished one, were ever in trouble, on the
verge of collapse from loneliness, grief or despair, they could
just recite it with whatever strength they had left.

Then God, no matter how shy He was feeling that day, would
reveal Himself, for at least a moment, and that would be all
that was needed—a second of truly seeing Him …
—Daniel Ladinsky, excerpt from “I Would Give My Life For This”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

The body is like Mary, and each of us has a Jesus inside.
Who is not in labour, holy labour? Every creature is.

See the value of true art, when the earth or a soul is in
the mood to create beauty;

for the witness might then for a moment know, beyond
any doubt, God is really there within …
—Daniel Ladinsky, excerpt from “The Body Is Like Mary”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

We just naturally turn toward her loveliness.

The clouds may gather in the sky in a graceful
manner that lifts our gaze to them.

Something we see there may touch us for a
few moments in a way we so needed.

Words in a poem can be like this: causing
formations, images in your mind, that can
create chemical synergies,

that so elevate vision—the single eye gets
ignited,

and the light, the beautiful face, the exquisite
One, that was hidden, is revealed.
—Daniel Ladinsky, “The Beautiful Face”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

Fly heavenward, dear. Let your wings unfurl to their
full expanse.

Gather from the sky’s fields and intimate regions
that rare, unalloyed quality and light.

Bring it back to your nest. Weave it into your eyes,
sounds, movements and touch.

Then invite all of us over to your house, if you are
willing, if you are willing … to let us stay.
—Daniel Ladinsky, “Fly Heavenward Dear”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

There are a myriad different sounds in this world
and in other dimensions.

And does not each human voice have its own
fingerprint?

How could so many things come from the
the same womb of One Being and still appear so
individualistic? …

Follow though, back to the core, anything with
a name until all concepts disappear, until you
come to that place again where there is just You,
the source of the Source of all madness and
sanity profound.
—Daniel Ladinsky, excerpt from “Individualistic”,
The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi

Daniel Ladinsky, The Purity of Desire, 100 Poems of Rumi - The Culturium

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Unity with the Sun

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