That's fine with us. Every morning
we glow and in the evening we glow
again.
They say there's no future for us.
They're
right.
Which is fine with us.
page 2
Deliberation
A friend remarked to the Prophet, "How
is it
I get screwed in business deals?
It's like a spell. I become distracted
by business talk and make the wrong
decisions"
Muhammad replies, "Stipulate with
every
transaction
that you need three days to make sure."
Deliberation is one of the qualities
of
God.
Throw a dog a bit of something.
He sniffs to see if he wants it.
Be that careful.
Sniff with your wisdom-nose.
Get clear. Then decide.
The universe came into being gradually
over six days. God could have just
commanded
Be!
Little by little a person reaches
forty
and fifty
and sixty, and feels more complete.
God
could have thrown
full-blown prophets flying through the
cosmos in and instant.
Jesus said one word, and a dead man
sat
up,
but creation usually unfolds,
like calm breakers.
Constant, slow movement teaches us to
keep
working
like a small creek that stays clear,
that doesn't stagnate, but finds a way
through numerous details, deliberately.
Deliberation is born of joy,
like a bird from an egg.
Birds don't resemble eggs!
Think how different the hatching out
is.
A white leathery snake egg, a
sparrow's
egg;
a quince seed, and apple seed: very
different
things
look similar at one stage.
These leaves, our bodily
personalities,
seem identical,
but the globe of soul fruit
we make,
each is elaborately
unique.
page 258
Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right.
It lands left.
I ride a deer and find myself
chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
and end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
and fall in.
I should be suspicious
of what I want.
page 110
This first poem -I you he she we... - was off the television
programs by Bill Moyer on the
American poets. Colman Barks' translations of Rumi's poems
is one of these programs. Colman Barks believes this is a Shan of
Tabriz poem that he found buried in the writing of Shan.
All others from:
The Essential Rumi
Translations by Colman Barks
Harpers San Francisco, 1995
To return to the
Myth Index
Please send an email of corrections, complaints, praise
or any other trash. dfsauer@gmail.com