The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
The Arabesque Collection Part 4 and 5 purvii.blogspot.com
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
We Are the Mirror
We are the mirror as well as the face in it.
We are tasting the taste this minute
of eternity. We are pain
and what cures pain, both. We are
the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.
I want to hold you close like a lute,
so we can cry out with loving.
You would rather throw stones at a mirror?
I am your mirror, and here are the stones.
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/jalal-al-din-rumi
From the link above:
Rumi, was born on September 30, 1207 C. E. in Balkh Province, Afghanistan, then on the eastern edge of the Persian Empire. Rumi descended from a long line of Islamic jurists, theologians, and mystics, including his father, who was known by followers of Rumi as “Sultan of the Scholars.” When Rumi was still a young man, his father led their family more than 2,000 miles west to avoid the invasion of Genghis Khan’s armies. They settled in present-day Turkey, where Rumi lived and wrote most of his life…
Coleman Barks (American scholar and translator of the Rumi poems in this blog) has written: “Rumi is one of the great souls, and one of the great spiritual teachers. He shows us our glory. He wants us to be more alive, to wake up… He wants us to see our beauty, in the mirror and in each other.”
Amazed.
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Thanks for posting – will definitely have to read more of his work.
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Both those poems have that ‘pithy’ thing— so much meaning in so few words!, The one about guests is quite thought- provoking as visitors can bring a range of emotions to the visitees- from Apathy to Malice — so the thought of the visitor as a bringer of self-enlightenment is a refreshing view! The Mirror poem is the word version of looking in a mirror reflecting another mirror and on and on into infinity with no end in sight— really cool!!!!!
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