What Was Said to the Rose
What Was Said to the Rose - context Summary
From Divan-e Shams
The poem presents a mystical experience of divine speech that animates and transforms the world. Rumi lists natural images—rose, cypress, jasmine, sugarcane, pomegranate, and an admired people—to suggest a single creative utterance that also fills his chest. He responds bodily (blushing, gratitude) and celebrates an inward opening and newfound eloquence as the beloved’s presence. Placed in the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi, the poem reflects Rumi’s Sufi theme of union with the divine: the same life-force that shapes nature is being spoken into the poet, producing ecstatic devotion.
Read Complete AnalysesWhat was said to the rose that made it open was said to me here in my chest. What was told the cypress that made it strong and straight, what was whispered the jasmine so it is what it is, whatever made sugarcane sweet, whatever was said to the inhabitants of the town of Chigil in Turkestan that makes them so handsome, whatever lets the pomegranate flower blush like a human face, that is being said to me now. I blush. Whatever put eloquence in language, that’s happening here. The great warehouse doors open; I fill with gratitude, chewing a piece of sugarcane, in love with the one to whom every that belongs!
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