Rumi

 

Dam the torrent of ecstasy when it runs in flood,

so that it won't bring shame and ruin.

But why should I fear ruin?

Under the ruin waits a royal treasure.

He that is drowned in God wishes to be more drowned.

While his spirit is tossed up and down 

by the waves of the sea,

he asks, "Is the bottom of the sea more delightful, or the top? 

Is the Beloved's arrow more fascinating, or the shield?"

O heart, if you recognize any difference 

between joy and sorrow,

these lies will tear you apart.

Although your desire tastes sweet,

doesn't the Beloved desire you

to be desireless?

The life of lovers is in death:

you will not win the Beloved's heart

unless you lose your own.

 

Translation: Kabir & Camille Helminski

From The RUMI Collection 

Edited by Kabir Helminski

Shambhala, 1999

Rumi

Till the cloud weeps, how should the garden smile?

The weeping of the cloud and the burning of the sun 

are the pillars of this world: twist these two strands together. 

Since the searing heat of the sun and the moisture of the clouds

keep the world fresh and sweet,

keep the sun of your intelligence burning bright

and your eye glistening with tears.

Translation: Kabir & Camille Helminski

From The RUMI Collection

Edited by Kabir Helminski 

Shambhala, 1999

Shakespeare

Dante

 E volta nostra poppa nel mattino

De' remi facemmo ali al folle volo

Inferno XXVI

May 31, 2021 - Via Marina Militare

From Adrienne Von Speyr's "Man Before God"

 

a Tree in a flower pot...

The hardest thing required of the believer is to place himself

at the disposal of something incomprehensible, 

something that begins to make sense

               only through love...

Until now he was collecting, gathering, counting and disposing...

Now he is meant to open himself in such a way that 

the hands he holds out to collect 

have to remain apart...

 

He (the believer) is embraced by God

in such a way that he is no longer capable of embracing anything.

He must keep himself as vessel,

and he cannot guarantee what this vessel will contain.

He no longer knows it

because he must allow 

what he had once 

well protected and thought through

        many times over

simply to flow into the infinite

        according to a rhythm that 

              God alone

                   determines ...

Obedience

 

Ocean Vuong: "Toy Boat"

 For Tamir Rice

yellow plastic

black sea

eye-shaped shard

on a darkened map

no shores now

to arrive --- or

depart

no wind but

this waiting which

moves you

as if the seconds

could be entered

& never left

toy boat --- oarless

each wave 

a green lamp

outlasted

toy boat

toy leaf dropped

from a toy tree

waiting

waiting

as if the sp-

arrows

thinning above you

are not 

already pierced

by their own names

Ocean Vuong

Poetry Foundation