A TRACE
"You that give new life to this planet,
you that transcend logic, come.
I am only an arrow.
Fill your bow with me and let me fly.
Because of this love for you
my bowl has fallen from the roof.
Put down a ladder and collect the pieces, please.
People ask, But which roof is your roof?
I answer, Wherever the soul came from,
and wherever it goes at night, my roof is in that direction.
From wherever spring arrives to heal the ground,
from wherever searching rises in a human being.
The looking itself is a trace of what we are looking for,
but we have been more like the man who sat on his donkey
and asked the donkey where to go.
Be quiet now and wait.
It may be that the ocean one,
that we desire so to move into and become,
desires us out here on land a little longer
going our sundry roads to the shore."
Rumi: The Big Red Book
by Coleman Barks, p. 316
photo is of The Hermitage Cottage Spring Garden in Saintfield, Northern Ireland
"Hyancinth with dome-shaped hacquetia and early red tulips behind; along centre path"
A lovely photo in homage to "from wherever spring arrives to heal the ground"
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1 comment:
Roberta, I love your choice of poem. Rumi's views and faith speak to a mystical aspect of coming to God that means a lot to me. So here we are, "going our sundry roads to the shore" because the way we go helps define what we are seeking. I especially like "the ocean one" wanting us to be on land a little longer. - Brad
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