19 Friday Feb 2016
Posted in quote unquote
≈ Comments Off on Rumi, “Some Kiss We Want”
There is some kiss we want
with our whole lives, the touch
of spirit on the body. Seawater
begs the pearl to break its shell.
And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling!
At night, I open the window and ask
the moon to come and press its
face against mine.
Breathe into me. Close
the door of the brain and open
the window of the heart.
The moon won’t use the door,
only the window.
19 Friday Feb 2016
Posted in quote unquote
≈ Comments Off on Rumi, “This Market”
Tags
Can you find another market like this?
Where, with your one rose
you can buy hundreds of rose gardens?
Where, for one seed you get
a whole wilderness? For one weak
breath, the divine wind?
19 Friday Feb 2016
Posted in quote unquote
≈ Comments Off on Rumi, “The Price of Kissing”
I would love to kiss you.
“The price of kissing is your
life.”
Now my love is running toward my soul shouting,
“What a bargain, let’s buy!”
19 Friday Feb 2016
Posted in quote unquote
≈ Comments Off on Rumi, “Like This”
Tags
Coleman Barks, huuuu is the sound of blowing wind across your palm, Like This, love poetry, Rumi, Shams
If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say,
Like this.
When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,
Like this.
If anyone wants to know what “spirit” is,
or what “God’s fragrance” means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.
Like this.
When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.
Like this.
If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,
don’t try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips.
Like this. Like this.
When someone asks what it means
to “die for love,” point
here to my heart.
If someone asks how tall I am, frown
and measure with your fingers the space
between the creases on your forehead.
This tall.
The soul sometimes leaves the body, the returns.
When someone doesn’t believe that,
walk back into my house.
Like this.
When lovers moan,
they’re telling our story.
Like this.
I am a sky where spirits live.
Stare into this deepening blue,
while the breeze says a secret.
Like this.
When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand.
Like this.
How did Joseph’s scent come to Jacob?
Huuuuu.
How did Jacob’s sight return?
Huuuu.
A little wind cleans the eyes.
Like this.
When Shams comes back from Tabriz,
he’ll put just his head around the edge
of the door to surprise us
Like this.
