True speech is the fruit of not speaking.
Too much talking clouds the heart.
If you want to clear the heart
say this much, the essence of all talking:
Speak truly.
God speaks through words truly spoken.
Falsity ends in pain.
Unless you witness
all of creation in a single glance
you're in sin even with all your religion.
The explanation of the Law is this:
The Law is a ship.
Truth is her ocean.
No matter how strong the wood
the sea can smash the ship.
The secret is this:
A "saint" of religion
may in reality be an unbeliever.
We will master this science
and read this book of love.
God instructs.
Love is his school.
Since the glance of the saints
fell on poor Yunus
nothing has been a misfortune.
Leave appearances. Come to essence and meaning.
Don't dwell in images or you'll never mature.
The Way is amazing but don't be deceived.
Let it be a wonder to see the Friend's face.
Dress yourself in love.
Set out on the Way to the Friend.
Persevere and you'll have so much to see.
From here to the city of Love
three hundred oceans you'll travel
and after crossing them seven hells.
Let yourself burn up
burn to ashes in each one
until nothing's left of your body
except a very different one.
The city of Reality has seven doors
and over a gate the words
Come in and know the power of your Lord.
At the first door sits
someone with a moon-like glow
secure, without blemish
who knows what it is to be poor.
At the second door are two lions
who've scared many away.
At the third door are three dragons
—-but don't turn back.
At the fourth door are four great saints.
You carry this word as a sign
and evidence for admission.
At the fifth door are five monks
with much to sell, but you are to buy nothing.
At the sixth door sits a virgin
radiant as the moon, but don't go to her
because if you do, take her and satisfy yourself
you'll fall short of your goal.
At the seventh door, seven great men of God
will say to you:
You're safe come inside and meet the Friend.
These words I've spoken
are not outside the body.
If you meditate you'll find them too.
Yunus speaks every word from the One Word.
If it is this ore you seek
you'll find it in humbleness.
That by which our hearts are held
whole worlds love it too.
I can't deny the truth-—
many ways lead to the One.
Those whom the Beloved loves
we must also love.
If someone is a friend to the Friend
how can we afford not to be friends?
If you would be a lover,
befriend him who loves your Friend
and if you cannot
don't call yourself a friend of mine.
Whomever you tend to despise
hold dear instead.
Don't belittle others, respect them.
This is where the path leads.
If your heart is filled with love
your way is sacrifice.
Through sacrifice you will find your place
in the ranks of Love.
Hearts which truly love the Truth
Truth will open a door wide.
Dismantle the house of selfishness.
Put away your self-regard.
High and low, enemy, neighbor
the Friend serves them all.
Whoever wants to spread this word
must first go out of his home.
This counsel that Yunus gives
is like buried gold.
Those who love the Friend
find peace in both worlds.
Oh Friend, when I began to love You
my intellect went and left me.
I gazed at the rivers.
I dove into the seas.
But a spark of Love's fire
can make the seas boil.
I fell in, caught fire, and burned.
A soul in love is free of worries.
With love all problems left me.
With love I became happy.
When the nightingale saw the face
of the red rose, it fell in love.
I saw the faces of those who matured
and became a nightingale.
I was a dead tree fallen onto the path.
When a master threw me a glance
and brought me to life.
Yunus, if you are a true lover
humble yourself.
Humility was chosen by them all.
How strange I feel under the hand of this love.
I can't see my Way, under the hand of this love.
Once I was the crown of the universe.
Now I'm dirt to walk on
under the hand of this love.
Like a lonely nightingale I call.
Blood streams from my eyes
under the hand of this love.
My face, like an-autumn leaf,
will glow, darken and die
under the hand of this love.
On the Final Day
with my collar torn let me weep
under the hand of this love.
What can I do when I'm so far from Union?
My back is bent
under the hand of this love.
Yunus, you pray for Taptuk so much.
Don't ask “What shall I do?”
under the hand of this love.
What sweet news of love shall I deliver?
Let me speak to those who will listen
one by one.
At first, before earth or sky existed
without beginning, there was the ground of love
an infinite beginning
able to bring anything into existence.
Those who gathered at this beginning
saw the face of the Friend
and became the souls of lovers.
Ask them for news of love.
Don't compare anything to love
it's not possible.
Nothing substitutes for love
in this world or the next.
Be careful, the news of love is a trust.
Be careful not to speak to just anyone.
Among jewellers there's an unspoken rule:
don't show a pearl
to someone who won't know its worth.
Yunus's mind was so filled with love
he couldn't hide his pain.
Love spoke through him.
He didn't choose to.
Beloved, Your love pierces stone.
I lost head and soul in this love.
I fill Your night and day with my sorrow.
You've become a friend of my love.
Someone who worries only about You
is saved from many fears.
The heart that falls into Your love
burns and burns.
The one who gives himself to You
gives up everything else.
Worldliness looks like a poison.
Someone who lives with a vision of the End
passes up poisons.
Someone who is sane doesn't do the Work for wages
He doesn't become charmed by houries,
he passes up their looks.
A real lover gives his soul to Your house.
Thousands sacrificed their souls
just to talk with You.
For the wise this world is a dream.
Someone who gives himself to You
goes beyond dreams.
Yunus's heart and eyes
are filled with a love of Truth.
In good conversation distinctions blur
between stranger and friend.
My soul,
the way of the masters
is thinner than the thinnest.
What blocked Solomon's way was an ant.
Night and day
the lover's tears never end
tears of blood,
remembering the Beloved.
"The lover is outcast and idle"
they used to tell me.
It is true.
It happened to me.
I tried to make sense of the -Four Books*
until love arrived
and it all became a single syllable.
You who claim to be dervishes
and to never do what God forbids-—
the only time you're free of sin
is when you're in His hands.
Two people were talking.
One said, "I wish I could see this Yunus."
"I've seen him," the other says
"He's just another old lover."
* Torah, Psalms, Gospel, Quran, considered by Islamic tradition to be four Divinely revealed books.
Hey friends, whoever swore off love?
What falling star ever set fire to the ocean?
Beloved, the fire of Your love
set the ocean of my heart aflame.
Folks think it's strange how it boils
and miracles come to the surface.
A hundred thousand like Jesus and Moses
wander aimlessly in Your love.
Folks think it strange that the crocodile of love
swallowed me too!
Let the slave learn to swim
before entering the ocean.
The sea of love is bottomless
don't be surprised when you go down.
An untrained eye mistakes a pearl for a bead
and sells it for almost nothing.
Whoever doesn't see His Face here openly
tomorrow, wanders around
aimless and unaware.
Yunus says, "I serve a Master
Our Taptuk has the Face of the Friend."
If this is hard to believe
do whatever else you can.
Do you know, my friends, where the real saints are?
Wherever I look, wherever I want them, they're there.
My words bounce off the loveless
like an echo from stone.
Do you know, whoever hasn't got
at least an atom of love
lives in a wilderness?
Don't be a liar, don't lie to love.
Whoever lies here
earns a sentence in the other world.
Oh, you unaware of Yourself
you don't understand the meaning of words
if you desire the realness of Truth
here it is in knowledge and in the Quran:
If Allah says, "He is Mine"
Allah keeps giving the realness of Love.
Whoever has an atom of Love
has the realness of God within.
Many people tell Yunus,
"You're too old to be a lover"
but this love is so new and fresh.
I wasn't sober until I drank
the wine of Love.
I didn't know myself
until I met a master.
Is your own knowledge enough
to bring you where you have to go?
You won't reach Allah, you'll be stuck
unless you take a hand.
If religion and faith are what you want
work hard and be righteous in this life.
But unless you finish it today
you'll have the same task in the next world.
A nightingale falls in love with the Rose.
The whole love affair begins
with just one look from God.
A true word ripens within.
It was easy to speak
when my heart was in submission.
Is a lover ever valued for his words
unless he also delivers the goods?
To understand poor Yunus's words
you have to love very much.
It's like the language of birds—
what can you do but sing?
The moment this sweetheart caught my eye
she washed away my thoughts
and became my heart's companion.
My heart is Her slave. My soul, Her slave.
They struggle over who will be with Her.
But I know that I hold the power over them.
No one ever told me
but She became my happiness.
Wherever I look, it's Her that I see.
Even in Winter, Her Spring surrounds me.
I'm no Khidr or Elias
and sometimes I've made a mess of things
yet however little I ate and drank
I was well fed.
The whole universe has this Affection inside.
Without this deep Love, faith hardens.
If the fire of Your Love
touches anyone, well...
it touched Yunus
and opened him to the universe.
In this poem I have chosen to translate the pronouns as feminine. The Turkish does not specify gender.