I will be at your feet forever “tulips”

 

 

red tulips, Istanbul tulip festival 2009, Istanbul lale festivali'nden kırmızı laleler, Istanbul, pentax k10d

“Angels dance only with You, Beloved
and only before You
do I bow in adoration.
You may accept me or not
but I will be at your feet forever.”

Mevlana

yellow-red tulips, Istanbul tulip festival 2009

yellow-red tulips, Istanbul tulip festival 2009, Istanbul lale festivali'nden sarı-kırmızı laleler, Pentax K10d

 

Zero Circle

Be helpless, dumbfounded,
Unable to say yes or no.
Then a stretcher will come from grace
to gather us up.

We are too dull-eyed to see that beauty.
If we say we can, we’re lying.
If we say No, we don’t see it,
That No will behead us
And shut tight our window onto spirit.

So let us rather not be sure of anything,
Beside ourselves, and only that, so
Miraculous beings come running to help.
Crazed, lying in a zero circle, mute,
We shall be saying finally,
With tremendous eloquence, Lead us.
When we have totally surrendered to that beauty,
We shall be a mighty kindness.

Mevlana Rumi

from Ten Poems to Change Your Life, by Roger Housden

Aziz Mahmud Hüdai Camii

 

 

graves from Aziz Mahmud Hüdai Mosque's garden, Aziz Mahmud Hüdai Camii bahçesindeki mezar taşları, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

I regard not the outside and the words

I regard not the outside and the words,
I regard the inside and the state of the heart.
I look at the heart if it be humble,
Though the words may be the reverse of humble.
Because the heart is substance, and words accidents,
Accidents are only a means, substance is the final cause.
How long will thou dwell on words and superficialities?
A burning heart is what I want; consort with burning!
Kindle in the heart the flame of love,
And burn up utterly thoughts and fine expressions.

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi

from The Mathnawi: Rumi, Translated by E. H. Whinfield

Sultanahmet Camii

 

 

 

Sultanahmet Camii, Blue Mosque, Sultanahmet square, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

I’m neither beautiful nor ugly

I’m neither beautiful nor ugly
neither this nor that

I’m neither the peddler in the market
nor the nightingale
in the rose garden

Teacher give me a name so that I’ll know
what to call myself

I’m neither slave nor free neither candle
nor iron

I’ve not fallen in love with anyone
nor is anyone in love with me

Whether I’m sinful or good
sin and goodness come from another
not from me

Wherever He drags me I go
with no say in the matter

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi

from East Window: Poems from Asia, Translated by W. S. Merwin

Eminonu and passangers

 

 

Eminonu

Bosphorus and Anadolu Kavağı

 

Yoros Kalesi, Yoros Castle, Bosphorus-Boğaziçi, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Aziz Mahmud Hüdai Camii’s cemetery

 

gravstones in Aziz Mahmud Hüdai Mosque's garden, Aziz Mahmud Hüdai Camii bahçesindeki mezarlar, Üsküdar, İstanbul , Pentax K10d

you must open your eyes

İstanbul tulip festival 2009, İstanbul lale festivali, Pentax K10d, Hidiv Kasrı

The question

Love, a question
has destroyed you.

I have come back to you
from thorny uncertainty.

I want you straight as
the sword or the road.

But you insist
on keeping a nook
of shadow that I do not want.

My love,
understand me,
I love all of you,
from eyes to feet, to toenails,
inside,
all the brightness, which you kept.

It is I, my love,
who knocks at your door.
It is not the ghost, it is not
the one who once stopped
at your window.
I knock down the door:
I enter your life:
I come to live in your soul:
you cannot cope with me.

You must open door to door,
you must obey me,
you must open your eyes
so that I may search in them,
you must see how I walk
with heavy steps
along all the roads
that, blind, were waiting for me.

Do not fear,
I am yours,
but
I am not the passenger or the beggar,
I am your master,
the one you were waiting for,
and now I enter
your life,
no more to leave it,
love, love, love,
but to stay.

Pablo Neruda

Ayazma Camii

 

 

Ayazma Camii, Ayasma Mosque, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Murat Reis Camii

 

 

Murat Reis Camii, Murat Reis Mosque, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d