"Love Is Reckless" by RUMI

"Love Is Reckless" by RUMI

Love is reckless; not reason.
Reason seeks a profit.
Love comes on strong,
consuming herself, unabashed.

Yet, in the midst of suffering,
Love proceeds like a millstone,
hard surfaced and straightforward.

Having died of self-interest,
she risks everything and asks for nothing.
Love gambles away every gift God bestows.

Without cause God gave us Being;
without cause, give it back again.

*

The poetry of the medieval Persian sage Rumi combines lyrical beauty with spiritual profundity, a sense of rapture, and acute awareness of human suffering in ways that speak directly to contemporary audiences. Trained in Sufism—a mystic tradition within Islam—Rumi founded the Sufi order known to us as the Whirling Dervishes, who use dance and music as part of their spiritual devotion. Many of Rumi’s poems speak of a yearning for ecstatic union with the divine Beloved. But his images bring the sacred and the earthy together in startling ways, describing divine love in vividly human terms. This volume draws on a wide variety of translations—from the early twentieth century to the present—of Rumi’s deeply moving, sensually vibrant poetry. READ more here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/…/rumi-by-jalal-al-din-…/

Sonnets from the Portuguese

英國文學史上最著名的情詩集之一。

Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning​ was born in Kelloe, Durham, England on this day in 1806.

"I thought once how Theocritus had sung
Of the sweet years, the dear and wished for years,
Who each one in a gracious hand appears 
To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:
And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,
I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,
The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,
Those of my own life, who by turns had flung
A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware,
So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move
Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair,
And a voice said in mastery, while I strove, ...
Guess now who holds thee?'—Death,' I said. But there,
The silver answer rang ... Not Death, but Love'."
--"1: I thought once how Theocritus had sung" from SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE (1850)

First published in 1850 and considered some of the finest love lyrics in the English language, Sonnets from the Portuguese comprise 44 interlocking poems that Elizabeth Barrett Browning composed for her husband, Robert Browning. This wonderful illustrated edition includes 22 additional works as well. READ more here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/…/sonnets-from-the-port…/

The British Library

'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways'.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning eloped with Robert Browning #onthisday in 1846. They met in May 1845 and while his attraction to her was almost instantaneous, her feelings for him took longer to develop. Six years his senior and a lifelong sufferer of ill health, Elizabeth needed to be convinced that his affection for her was sincere and reliable. She was also aware of all that she would risk if she married Browning as her father had forbidden his children from marrying and said he would disinherit those who did.

In Sonnets from the Portuguese, these initial fears and doubts can be seen but by the later sonnets, such as Sonnet 43, these fears have been replaced by feelings of love and excitement as Elizabeth became surer of the relationship. Elizabeth and Robert remained married for 15 years until 29 June 1861 when Elizabeth died in Robert’s arms after a long illness. http://bit.ly/2cCXAUT

Image © The Provost and Fellows of Eton College