Two Friends

[vanamali]

Two Friends

 

 

A certain person came to the Friend's door

and knocked.

"Who's there?"

"It's me."

The Friend answered, "Go away. There's no place

for raw meat at this table."

 

 

The individual went wandering for a year.

Nothing but the fire of separation

can change hypocrisy and ego. The person returned

completely cooked,

walked up and down in front of the Friend's house,

gently knocked.

"Who is it?"

"You."

"Please come in, my self,

there's no place in this house for two.

The doubled end of the thread is not what goes through

the eye of the needle.

It's a single-pointed, fined-down, thread end,

not a big ego-beast with baggage."

 

~Rumi

[vanamali]

The Self We Share

 

 

Thirst is angry with water. Hunger bitter

with bread.The cave wants nothing to do

 

 

with the sun. This is dumb, the self-

defeating way we've been. A gold mine is

 

 

calling us into its temple. Instead, we

bend and keep picking up rocks from the

 

 

ground. Every thing has a shine like gold,

but we should turn to the source! The

 

 

origin is what we truly are. I add a little

vinegar to the honey I give. The bite of

 

 

scolding makes ecstasy more familiar. But

look, fish, you're already in the ocean:

 

 

just swimming there makes you friends with

glory. What are these grudges about? You

 

 

are Benjamin. Joseph has put a gold cup

in your grain sack and accused you of being

 

 

a thief. Now he draws you aside and says,

"You are my brother. I am a prayer. You're

 

 

the amen." We move in eternal regions, yet

worry about property here. This is the

 

 

prayer of each: You are the source of my

life. You separate essence from mud. You

 

 

honor my soul. You bring rivers from the

mountain springs. You brighten my eyes. The

 

 

wine you offer takes me out of myself into

the self we share. Doing that is religion.

[Guest guest]

I am clearly missing the point here, I see your poetic way of expressing spirituality, but please kindly explain the point of the first and the second poems.

 

[Guest guest]

these are Rumi's poems-

 

Just sharing some beauty from Sufism re, not trying to make any points