top of page
Ingrid Oliphant

Rumi’s The Self We Share

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 ofscolding 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.

0 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Firmament

Firmament...Say it out loud Doesn't it sound when it rolls from the tongue like something solid underneath the feet A place that births...

God's Hand

Yorumlar


bottom of page