Rumi Speaks About Al-Khabir, The Knowing

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The Reed Flute's Work

 I say to the reed flute, You do the work,
but you know sweet secrets too.

 You share the friend's breathing.
What could you need from me?

 The reed replies, Knowledge is for total destruction.
I say, Burn me completely then and leave no knowing.

 How could I, when it is knowledge that leads us?

 But that knowledge has lost compassion
and grown disgusted with itself.
It has forgotten about silence and emptiness.

 A reed flute has nine holes
and it is a model of human consciousness,
beheaded, though still in love with lips.

 This is your disgrace, this moaning.
Weep for the sounds you make.

 **Provided from The Collected Translations of Coleman Barks - Rumi: The Big Red Book - The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love & Friendship - Odes and Quatrains from The Shams

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