Rumi Quotes ~

You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don't.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly.

 "Burdens are the foundations of ease and bitter things the forerunners of pleasure."

No mirror ever became iron again;
No bread ever became wheat;
No ripened grape ever became sour fruit.
Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse.
Become the light.

 You suppose you are the trouble
But you are the cure
You suppose that you are the lock on the door
But you are the key that opens it
It's too bad that you want to be someone else
You don't see your own face, your own beauty
Yet, no face is more beautiful than yours.

~ Rumi Quotes ~

Distract and Divide

The unidentified flying objects, did not
At all interrupt, what was being lost
In moments that were heated and blind,
The damage being done was not known-
In essence, what had been regular and true
Was instantly and thoroughly, totally undone.

J.Bibi

 Questions Answered

What is the most forgone conclusion in the world?
That everything needs to be answered.

What is the hardest, staunchest barrier against happiness?
Stubbornness.

Where is the strangest sight on planet earth?
Inside the human third eye ~ imagination.

Where is the best game of Chess to be played?
Between the black and white board of human skin.

J.Bibi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of it's furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

--Rumi

Respect commands itself and can neither be given nor withheld when it is due.  Eldridge Cleaver

If you seek vengeance, prepare two graves ~ Chinese proverb

War is terrorism- with a bigger budget.

Jean Giradoux - French dramatist
As soon as war is declared it will be impossible to hold the poets back. Rhyme is still the most effective drum.

Noam Chomsky
Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it.

 James Bovard
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

Martin Luther King
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
There is no subjugation so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom, for in that way one captures volition itself. - Emile.

 Benito Mussolini
Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power.

Goebbels.
The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from it.

 Anatole France 1844 - 1924
You think you are dying for your country; you die for the industrialists.

Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi
The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice.

Anacharsis, Scythian philosopher, 600 B.C.
Written laws are like spiders' webs, and will, like them, only entangle and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and powerful easily break through them.

 Isaac Asimov
Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent.

Franklin Roosevelt
The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power.

 

Exploded

Today, 
I attended a funeral
It was a place,
where I didn't
Want to go
I saw faces-
that I didn't want to see,
Most of all;
A mother's shocked face-
Bleeding tears-
That burnt
Her eyes,
As they scalded
Down her face
 and I knew;
In every teardrop,
All the blood
From her heart,
dripped-
It wasn't
Hard to tell-
Her heart,
Had exploded.

J.Bibi

The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.

While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.

--Hafiz

The way of love is not a subtle argument.
The door there is devastation.
Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom.
How do they learn it?
They fall, and falling, they're given wings.
--Rumi

Manic Screaming
We should make all spiritual talk simple today
God is trying sell you something but you dont want to buy

That is what your suffering is:
your fantastic haggling
your manic screaming
over
price.

--Hafiz

You Were Brave in that Holy WarYou have done well
In the contest of madness.

You were brave in that holy war.

You have all the honorable wounds
Of one who has tried to find love
Where the Beautiful Bird
Does not drink.

May I speak to you
Like we are close
And locked away together?

Once I found a stray kitten
And I used to soak my fingers
In warm milk;

It came to think I was five mothers
On one hand.

Wayfarer,
Why not rest your tired body?
Lean back and close your eyes.

Come morning
I will kneel by your side and feed you.
I will so gently
Spread open your mouth
And let you taste something of my
Sacred mind and life.

Surely
There is something wrong
With your ideas of
God
 O, surely there is something wrong
With your ideas of
God

If you think
Our Beloved would not be so
Tender.

 The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the great Sufi Master"

Deeper Wells

That's done then; 
How, where and when,
Did the penny drop?

The abundance of pitfalls, 
Never cease to become or ever stop-
As all simple souls, stall and try;
To live in a simplified world,

Trying to step up to the level- 
Always Knocked back and told;
There is no more, no more!  

Drown, in deeper wells of dirty water-
Contamination from a deadly slaughter;

The squalid dampness of all bitter
And torn existence betrays,

The achievement's-
The light of beings,
Which life consistently displays.

J.Bibi

For Malcolm X

 

All you violated ones with gentle hearts; 

You violent dreamers whose cries shout heartbreak; 

Whose voices echo clamors of our cool capers, 

And whose black faces have hollowed pits for eyes.  

All you gambling sons and hooked children and bowery bums  

Hating white devils and black bourgeoisie,

Thumbing your noses at your burning red suns, 

Gather round this coffin and mourn your dying swan. 

Snow-white moslem head-dress around a dead black face! 

Beautiful were your sand-papering words against our skins! 

Our blood and water pour from your flowing wounds. 

You have cut open our breasts and dug scalpels in our brains. 

When and Where will another come to take your holy place? 

Old man mumbling in his dotage, crying child, unborn?   

~Margaret Walker

Still I Rise
 
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
   Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
   I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
   I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
   I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
  I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
  I rise
  I rise
  I rise.

Dr Maya Angelou

Look Forward

Ease away from the venom,
It's all over now;
Time to look forward
To a preservation of the
Energy-
And keep hope alive,
Hurdles lined up as formidable
As ever- barbed wire fences of-

Resistance.
Fear not this can be-
The unconquerable,
Vanquished.
One step after the next,
A league of distinct landmarks towards
Another place-
This life survived.

J.Bibi

Nothing Left

The truth is always revealed,
When there is nothing left to see,
The kindness of life is always-
Superseded by the misery of reality,
Working away through the raging
Currents, are whispers of hope-
In the dark and in the midst
Of every heart; the overcoming
Of obstacles to a better day,
The focus of such moments, in
Which we forever stay.

J. Bibi

Persona Non Grata

To believe in something higher ,
Say words but speak few-
Ships moored in the harbour,
Can sail in storms to Xanadu-
If simple is as simple born,
Then what is known is what is true-
The waves that crash leave stones worn,
In plain sight and hidden in view.

J. Bibi

Walking Zombies

A reminder, at least once a day-
Of the truth in regards to existence,
Don't ever listen to what they say,
Keep on with that innate persistence-
There is a reason, to see this way;
Walking zombies deny any resistance-
To creating positive states of play.

J.Bibi

A Reaction

Flying and fighting comes from a reaction to drowning and dying.
The levels of awareness and initiatives towards the mindset of trying-
The scope of hardship sometimes hinders the levels of contentment-
Differences which should be obvious but are very frequently, obviously not-
Coping, teaches independence not inter-dependence, which easily leads to resentment,
Needing and ignoring are the by-products of survival modes- like it or not-
Some live in placid and uneventful places and some have lives which are from the start, anything but.
Those, the blows which teach so much about everything, life, love and trust.

J.Bibi

Apathy

The indifference of life
With it's bloody nose;

Of missing comprehension
And blinkered eyes,

Tethered by constructed images
And lies stomping loudly-

Protectively camouflaged reality
And insignificant rules aplenty;

The greed and laziness masks,
The fears that hide behind normality ;

All these the excuses and reasons-
For the hows and whys to apathy.


J.Bibi

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate,
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,
And many Knots unravel'd by the Road,
But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate.

Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Treasure

A bursting forth from a resplendent shell is the ritual,
Destroying in truth and entirety an old fury, daily retold;

The intricate readings of universal fate and it's mysteries-
Sit above the stratosphere and hold onto unknown realities,

Understanding the all encompassing memories is the path
And an awakening towards eternal treasure is the goal.

J.Bibi

Equilibrium

The fight of a dichotomy as in regards to good and evil,
For all humankind is an internal and eternal monstrosity;

Where human justice overcomes inhuman environments
And where, the bounds of humanity are said to be found.

The times of interwoven tapestry highlight and give cover,
To the legends of history and what is glorified and honoured.

Hidden are the mocked, destitute, defamed and malnourished,
Where the regal walls of civilisations are barely established;

As grieving souls and gallant heroes, from the necessities of-
Furnaces, are created in the throes of existential irrelevance-

To become circles of relevant existence, in space and continuum,
An equilibrium becomes the light that shines in the darkness.

- J.Bibi

The Path

Let bygones go by-
Vague inflictions that never realize,
Animation, this is the right way-
To play- towards good
Health and happiness,
In the night the lesions,
Burn and the wounds seep, bloodied-
And see angels that protect,
The helpless in moments
Of confusion- necessary
Lights that shine- to light
The dark path spread in front of the days-
Denied breathing in gasps of drowning-
In whirlpools of frenzied torments,
Insipid aspirations of-
Furious oppression, in breathing
Less, deterring the pain and the shame;
Failure to see and breathe-
The lights blink outwards illuminating
And then a blink away, in a second-
The fog descends once again.

J.Bibi

Hate and Hope

Break-neck lightening speed,
Don't give any heed
Whatsoever, to the weather
The mighty fall and the meek rise,
With faith and hope together;
The dead can overcome the lies,
The hatred respects no ties,
As the hope does tether
The battle of the heart and eyes.

J.Bibi

                              

Learn

So real, the flames shine in eternal moments,
As the fogs lift and the rays begin to burn,
In small visions of historical atonements;
From the rain does the parched ground learn.

The strong pattern, of rainbows anticipated,
As a howling wind lifts on upwards, the bereft;
The restless discover all that is related,
The subsiding of storms display, what is left.

J.Bibi

Achievements

In accents and affordable institutions,
The demise and lies of indecision's-
The next rise of incendiary exploitations-
As the denied cries subside-
And the determined heart overrides,
An unlimited kind of subordination.

J.Bibi

Predators And Scavengers

The still eyes of the vulture,
Stare with deadpan certainty;
In time and within every culture
The will to live, to survive eternity
Shall flounder and the reward,
Of a planned, anticipated conquest
Will be easily and eagerly savoured.
Patience and an aggressive instinct,
Define all, 'natural' outcomes-
No accidental events, or negligence
Blind, ever offered up what becomes
Prey; only a creative competence
Offers up the opportunities for a kill-
And the carnivorous taste for a thrill.

J.Bibi

photograph: Kevin Carter

LIFE RULES

Love,
Not supported
By the pillars,
Of trust and respect
Is more damaging,
Than hatred.


J. Bibi

HYSTERIA


The bee's knees, knocked together
In frozen hysteria,
As falling leaves scattered savagely
Through smug skies-
With fearsome swarms spreading;
The land was overcome.


J. Bibi

DUMB ANIMALS

In pastures, 

Sheep follow,

Dogs herd,

Wolves hunt,

And some people,

Get fed up

Of being

Denigrated;

To the status

Of 'dumb animals'.

~J. Bibi

GREENER GRASS

The grass is always greener

And the air always cleaner,

The moments of madness-

don't ever dare stay-

as the pain melts away,
In the resolve of gladness.

- J. Bibi

Encouraged Stupidity

Of encouraged stupidity 
And implied weakness;

The call to arms and then,
The reply obvious-

Power pushed 
And managed.

In the absence of vision

And wisdom-
Mishaped and stolen,

The light of truth, 
Always obscured-

By shadows of subterfuge.

Requiring a push against, 
Obvious normality
And fighting to
Walk through,

Manufactured Quicksand;
The pull towards clarity.

 ~J.  Bibi

Rainbow People-Smiles

In the end,
The colours
Shine brightly;
The blues
Of the sky in all shades,
Of light and dark,
Varying
Depths of green-faced nature,
The hard and soft greys
Of human-made dreams;
The reds and browns of
Survivor animals-
And of course,
Especially,
Rainbow people-smiles.


 ~J.Bibi

I Scream Worlds

The light seems to die but then flares even brighter,

Reflections of time determine the fight in the fighter.

The surreal but trying scares of changing mysteries,

Show the dangers of I-scream-worlds in our histories.

Stay safe in the make-believe olde worldly legends,
That show and conceal our ever-present dimensions.
Greed for the success of all and everything touched,
Forces neglected pain from the past to remain hushed.

The just changes of the present will never be realised,
'Til the haunting spectre of the past has been exorcised,
Evermore is on repeat with different, 'I-scream-players',
Duped to dance to the same old puppeteer soothsayers.

I want to be awake to the world where my reality lives-
Acknowledge a place where a broken heart forgives.

- J.Bibi