The Dervishes Dance Poem by Dr. Madan Gandhi

I
At the Whirling Dervishes Dance
a shady atmosphere reigns
sweetened by soft music of flute and tambourines
in the interior of the circular hall

Soon a dozen men pour in one by one
clad in black cloaks with long cylindrical hats
bow towards an elderly man with a white beard
seated with his back erect, arms crossed

In a slow spiral motion
the Dervishes form a large circle;
while the music of the ney, the Turkish flute slowly changes rhythm
its plaintive insistent notes fill the atmosphere

After a long spell of meditation
the dervishes get up forming a circle
their movement so slow and concentrated
observer hardly can discern if they moved

Their expressions, so out of this world
their eyes peer as if into their own inner world
yet having a vivid awareness of the moment
of themselves, and of what surrounds them

Their white tunics, that long sleeveless robe called the hirka,
on top of which is worn a short jacket tied at the waist—
a very symbolic garment, of shining splendor
mostly by the dervishes themselves sewn.
One by one they remove their black attire
symbolizing the separation from the ego

At the most honored corner of the dancing floor
there stands the Chief Sema dancer
the dervishes pass him exchanging greetings, each one three times
until the circling movement begins

With accelerating speed they perform on the right foot
till each ecstatic dancer appears a turning top
if one dervish becomes too enraptured
another would gently touch his frock
to curb his movement

Slowly the dervishes, their right arm raised towards the sky
and the left arm pointing to the earth
slowly begin to move
around themselves and around the center

II
The music begins
with the great hymn
with Rumi’s song in honor of the Prophet
the scene ends with enthusiastic short songs

At the beginning the Dervishes only listen to the music
the dance is but a means
of giving it one's whole being away
till the crescendo builds itself
that the music and dance become one


III
What does the Sema, the dance ritual, signify?
When the name of the lover is uttered
even the dead start dancing in their shrouds
Sun of enlightenment shines clear from behind the clouds

The dancing dervishes coreograph the solar system
the planets revolving around the sun
themselves in their own microcosms immersed
forming new worlds and making contact with eternity

By dancing to the rhythm of the earth
with an awarenes of the choreography of the cosmos
what aborigines has had since very ancient times
but in course of material progress has lost

All dance in harmony with nature, in a certain way,
yields the body to the earth's movement.

IV
Slowly, as the body sways
the blood rhythm changes,
consciousness too
so do awareness of nature and universe

With the revolution paralleling that of the cosmos,
the mind assumes a freedom from the earthly bondage
begins to concentrate on the depth of existence to the core
while the body has been given away to the earth

Here every thing happens in a trance,
unlike the Dionysian ritual
effected by the separation of the mind from the body
signallling the soul's freedom from physicality

Through this dance
the dervish understands the eternity of the soul;
with his body given away to the earth
now his mind and soul can be firm fixed on the centre still.
(Yayati)