Carpe Diem #1165 roses

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of CDHK March 2017. After our trip through Japan we are now visiting Persia, today Iran, to explore the relationship with poetry. Recently I read a wonderful article about the love for poetry of the Iranian people. As you all know Iran was called Persia and Persia had great poets for example Rumi and Hafez (or Hafiz). The people of Iran live with poetry. They all can recite the poems of their poets especially the beautiful poems of Hafez (Hafiz), but there were more poets from Persia, so let us start reading the first poem I have chosen for this month. This poem written by Rumi is the "namegiver" for this month. The theme I have chosen for this month is "praise the emptiness" it's from the following poem by Rumi:

Rumi

This World Which Is Made of Our Love for Emptiness
Praise to the emptiness that blanks out existence. Existence: 
This place made from our love for that emptiness!
 Yet somehow comes emptiness, 
this existence goes.
 Praise to that happening, over and over! 
For years I pulled my own existence out of emptiness.
 Then one swoop, one swing of the arm, 
that work is over.
 Free of who I was, free of presence, free of dangerous fear, hope, 
free of mountainous wanting.
 The here-and-now mountain is a tiny piece of a piece of straw 
blown off into emptiness.
 These words I'm saying so much begin to lose meaning: 
Existence, emptiness, mountain, straw:
 Words and what they try to say swept 
out the window, down the slant of the roof.

© Rumi

What a wonderful poem. I had to try to extract a haiku from it ... so here it is:

piece of straw
blown off into emptiness
a new beginning

© Chèvrefeuille

rice straw Japan

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ("our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī "my master"), and more popularly simply as Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian Sunni Muslim poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Rumi's influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: Iranians, Tajiks, Turks, Greeks, Pashtuns, other Central Asian Muslims, and the Muslims of South Asia have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the "most popular poet" and the "best selling poet" in the United States.

Until I started preparing this new month of CDHK I only knew Rumi. I didn't knew Hafez (or Hafiz) and Saadi. I really wasn't aware of other Persian poets than Rumi. So this month will be a real adeventure. We (at least I) will dive into an unknown world of poetry ... will be a great experience I think.

This episode I have called "roses" and it is extracted from another poem by Rumi that I love to share here with you:

roses

O you who've gone on pilgrimage -
              where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
              Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
             he is next to your wall -
You, erring in the desert - 
              what air of love is this?
If you'd see the Beloved's
              form without any form -
You are the house, the master,
              You are the Kaaba, you! . . .
Where is a bunch of roses,
              if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul's pearly essence
              when you're the Sea of God?
That's true - and yet your troubles
              may turn to treasures rich -
How sad that you yourself veil
              the treasure that is yours!

© Rumi

A beautiful poem to start this month with. The first poem was to introduce this month, this second poem by Rumi is the poem you have to use for our challenge: Create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form from this poem.

Here is my attempt:

along the road
thrown away roses
a lost treasure

© Chèvrefeuille

Well .... I hope you did like this episode and that it will inspire you to create a new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form. 

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 5th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our next episode, nightflower, later on. For now ... have fun!