Rumi
The Reed Flute
A source-safe reading page for the opening image of Rumi’s Masnavi.
Why return to it: The reed flute is one of world poetry’s great images of separation, song, and the wish to return.
Included here: Source-safe original/transliteration where appropriate and a poetic English rendering.
Original / source note
Source note: This page offers a short public-domain-friendly summary and rendering of the Masnavi’s opening reed-flute image rather than a modern copyrighted translation.
English transliteration
Bishnav az ney chūn ḥikāyat mīkunad
Az judāyīhā shikāyat mīkunad.
Poetic English rendering
Listen to the reed as it tells its story. Cut from its reed-bed, it sings of separation — and every note remembers the place from which it was taken.