An evening with Rumi

Spent a lazy evening yesterday, reading Rumi. Thought I would share some of my favourite pieces with you.

~0~

You've no idea how hard I've looked for a gift to bring You.

Nothing seemed right.

What's the point of bringing gold to the gold mine, or water to the Ocean.

Everything I came up with was like taking spices to the Orient.

It's no good giving my heart and my soul because you already have these.

So- I've brought you a mirror.

Look at yourself and remember me.

~0~

I wonder

from these thousand of "me's",

which one am I?

Listen to my cry, do not drown my voice

I am completely filled with the thought of you.

Don't lay broken glass on my path

I will crush it into dust.

I am nothing, just a mirror in the palm of your hand,

reflecting your kindness, your sadness, your anger.

If you were a blade of grass or a tiny flower

I will pitch my tent in your shadow.

Only your presence revives my withered heart.

You are the candle that lights the whole world

and I am an empty vessel for your light.

~0~

Inside the Great Mystery that is,

we don't really own anything.

What is this competition we feel then,

before we go, one at a time, through the same gate?

~0~

For years, copying other people,

I tried to know myself.

From within, I couldn't decide what to do.

Unable to see, I heard my name being called.

Then I walked outside.

~0~