Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī / When I die

When I die,
when my coffin
is being taken out,
you must never think
I am missing this world.


Don't shed any tears,
don't lament or
feel sorry
I'm not falling
into a monster's abyss.

When you see
my corpse is being carried,
don't cry for my leaving
I'm not leaving,
I'm arriving at eternal love.

When you leave me
in the grave,
don't say goodbye.
Remember a grave is
only a curtain
for the paradise behind.

You'll only see me
descending into a grave.
Now watch me rise
how can there be an end
when the sun sets or
the moon goes down.

It looks like the end
it seems like a sunset,
but in reality it is a dawn
when the grave locks you up
that is when your soul is freed.

Have you ever seen
a seed fallen to earth
not rise with a new life?
Why should you doubt the rise
of a seed named human?

Have you ever seen
a bucket lowered into a well
coming back empty?
Why lament for a soul
when it can come back
like Joseph from the well.

When for the last time
you close your mouth,
your words and soul
will belong to the world of
no place no time.