Jalalu’ddin Rumi, a 13th-century mystic Sufi poet known for his passionate paeans to the infinite divine, is a lot like Elvis in his staying power. His ecstatic poetry––which was mostly dictated to assistants instead of directly written––is about to be re-disseminated in the form of several new books, a CD of his poems put to music, and an on-going concert with one of his most devoted translators, Coleman Barks. There are also the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi, twirling to a venue near you; a Tribe.net Rumi group that swaps favorite poems and dervish photos; and dozens and dozens of websites devoted to the poet who wrote over 70,000 verses, including this: “There is some kiss we want with our whole lives, the touch of spirit on the body. At night I open the window and ask the moon to come and press its face against mine. Breathe into me.”

Those who love Rumi understand the Sufi dervish urge to twirl when they hear lines like that.

One Rumi translator, Nevit Ergin, probably gets this deeply. He’s published translations of 22 volumes of Rumi’s work (all of the poetry he wrote after meeting his spiritual teacher, Shams, in his late 30s). Ergin’s latest text, coming out in March, The Forbidden Rumi: The Suppressed Poems of Rumi on Love, Heresy, and Intoxication, is a volume he says the Turkish government tried to censor for its heresy. No hint of what it contains yet, but I can’t wait. For those who like their Rumi in quick, beautifully illustrated hits, a follow-up to The Illuminated Rumi, One Song: A New Illuminated Rumi , was recently published. And for those who like their Rumi in really, really small yet potent doses, Beliefnet has a poll of pick-your-favorite Rumi quotes, which include near-clichés like, “Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. /They’re in each other all along,” “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do,” and “Beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

For me, Hafiz, another miraculous Sufi poet born 100 years after Rumi, summed up the whole phenomenon best: “Good poetry makes the universe reveal a secret.”

Photo by Kevin Hoogheem