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I’ve been traveling in Turkey for the past 40 days.

I made a stop in Konya last month to visit Rumi’s mausoleum and museum. Although the place was packed with souvenirs, all the books they had were in Turkish.

I’m back in Istanbul now, and luckily, I stumbled upon a library in Taksim. I bought a few books of Rumi in English and spent that night going through some of his poems.

I came across my all-time, favorite poem from him. “In the Arc of Your Mallet” brought me to tears many times, and I came back to it on the nights I couldn’t sleep and needed something to comfort me. There’s something in it that makes me believe in the eternity of love and our existence.

Rumi endured a painful separation from his friend and spiritual teacher Shams Tabrizi. When Shams left, Rumi meditated, whirled, and composed thousands of songs and poems.

Most of his poetry was addressed to either Shams or God. That’s why we can feel a deep sense of belonging when we read his words.

Love is universal, eternal, and powerful. When I’m not able to put it into words, I come back to Rumi. Rumi gives meaning to my deepest, unspoken emotions and perfectly weaves them together to make me whole again.

May this poem bring you home to your center and shatter all your misconceptions about love.

Don’t go anywhere without me.
Let nothing happen in the sky apart from me,
or on the ground, in this world or that world,
without my being in its happening.
Vision, see nothing I don’t see.
Language, say nothing.
The way the night knows itself with the moon,
be that with me. Be the rose
nearest to the thorn that I am.

I want to feel myself in you when you taste food,
in the arc of your mallet when you work,
when you visit friends, when you go
up on the roof by yourself at night.

There’s nothing worse than to walk out along the street
without you. I don’t know where I’m going.
You’re the road, and the knower of roads,
more than maps, more than love.

~