Thursday, October 18, 2007

Only Breath
Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion
or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not made out of the ocean or up
from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,
am not an entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any
origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.
-Rumi (who died in 1273)

7 comments:

Lisa said...

Perfection -- and this is the second time the Pakistani poet, Rumi has come up on the blogosphere this week for me.

Karen L. Simpson said...

wonderful, wonderful

The University of Michigan and The Ann Arbor District Library had two huge and wonderful celebrations of Rumi's life and work in September.

My favorite :

Those of you whose work it is
to wake the dead, get up!
This is a workday.

Rumi

Sherry said...

I love Rumi...
I'm glad you chose to post this today...it really touched home.

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

Pretty picture beautiful post - perfect way to set up for the weekend!

Carleen Brice said...

Lafreya, That is powerful! It makes me think of the Sweet Honey in the Rock Song, "Hope." Part of the lyrics go:
If we want hope to survive in this world today then everyday, we've got to work on, work on.

Sustenance Scout said...

Oooo, sounds like destiny for you too, Lisa; when a 13th-centurey Pakistani poet comes knocking twice in one week, I'd pay attention. Thanks for introducing me to such a remarkable voice, Carleen. Love the photo, too. Hmmmmm.