My dear friend Beth sent me this poem in an email last night. She has no idea of the kind of week I’ve just been through… so all I can say is

THANK YOU.

~

[Jelaluddin Rumi, in Delicious Laughter, translated by Coleman Barks]

A dragon was pulling a bear into its terrible mouth.

A courageous man went and rescued the bear.
There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save
anyone who cries out. Like Mercy itself,
they run toward the screaming.

And they can’t be bought off.
If you were to ask one of those, “Why did you come
so quickly?” He or she would say, “Because I heard
your helplessness.”

Where lowland is,
that’s where water goes. All medicine wants
is pain to cure.

And don’t just ask for one mercy.
Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet.
Take the cotton out of your ears, the cotton
of consolations, so you can hear the sphere-music. . . .

Give your weakness
to One Who Helps.

Crying out loud and weeping are great resources.
A nursing mother, all she does
is wait to hear her child.

Just a little beginning-whimper,
and she’s there.

God created the child, that is, your wanting,
so that it might cry out, so that milk might come.

Cry out! Don’t be stolid and silent
with your pain. Lament! And let the milk
of Loving flow into you.

The hard rain and wind
are ways the cloud has
to take care of us.

Be patient.
Respond to every call
that excites your spirit.

Ignore those that make you fearful
and sad, that degrade you
back toward disease and death.

~

I love this poem. I’d never heard of Rumi until last night. I googled the copyrights to make sure I could post, and Rumi and Barks are so intent on sharing his gift of poetry that the caviat is only to cite them as the source and author/translator of this wonderful poem.

Astounding.

And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!

"What's the Word?" Wednesdays [Blog Hop]: August 8, 2012
Lessons Learned: The Domesticated Cat Edition
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