In this quietness now

I feel someone seated on my right

like a kindness that will never leave.

~ Rumi ~

Don't go to sleep one night.

What you most want will come to you then.

Warmed by a sun inside, you'll see wonders.

Tonight, don't put your head down.

Be tough, and strength will come.

That which adoration adores

appears at night. Those asleep

may miss it. One night Moses stayed awake

and asked, and saw a light in a tree.

Then he walked at night for ten years,

until finally he saw the whole tree

illuminated. Muhammad rode his horse

through the night sky. The day is for work.

The night for love. Don't let someone

bewitch you. Some people sleep at night.

But not lovers. They sit in the dark

and talk to God, who told David,

"Those who sleep all night every night

and claim to be connected to us, they lie."

Lovers can't sleep when they feel the privacy

of the beloved all around them. Someone

who's thirsty may sleep for a little while,

but he or she will dream of water, a full jar

beside a creek, or the spiritual water you get

from another person. All night, listen

to the conversation. Stay up.

This moment is all there is.

Death will take it away soon enough.

You'll be gone, and this earth will be left 

without a sweetheart, nothing but weeds

growing inside thorns.

I'm through. Read the rest of this poem

in the dark tonight.

Do I have a head? And feet?

Shams, so loved by Tabrizians, I close my lips.

I wait for you to come and open them.

~ RUMI ~

Photo: Sheikha Mira Gulum Hatun, Vice Postneshin Mevlevi Order of America, directing the Sema 
( The Sufi Prayer)

Little by little, wean yourself. 
This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of more invisible game. 

Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo. 
You might say, “The world outside is vast and intricate. There are wheatfields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom. At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding.

~ Rumi ~ 

Don't be more than others. So I urge my heart.

Go be a salve of kindness - make no one sting

If you would have no other do you harm

Bite no back - do no bad deed - keep no bad thought

~ Rumi ~

Millions of Trees in the World are accidentally Planted by Squirrels, who bury Nuts & then forget where they hide them. Do good & forget. It will grow one day.

Without love,

all worship is a burden,

all dancing is a chore,

all music is mere noise.

All the rain of heaven may fall into the sea.

Without love,

not one drop could become a pearl.

~ Rumi ~

Be soulful; Be kind; 

Be in Love.

~ Rumi ~ 

Come, come, come

My endless desires

Come, come, come

Come my beloved

Come my sweetheart

Come, come, come..

Don't talk about the journey

Say no more of the path

The path one must take

You are my path

You are my journey

Come, come, come..

You stole from this earth

A bouquet of roses

I am hidden in that bouquet

Come, come, come..

As long as I am sober

And keep talking about good and bad

I am missing the most important event

Seeing your face

Come come come..

I must be a moron

Missing this life

If I don't cast my mind

In the fire of love

Come, come, come...

~ Rumi ~