Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi: "Birdwings"


[image deleted at request of artist on 9/21/23]












Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror
up to where you’re bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look, you look, and instead,
here's the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.

Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralyzed.

Your deepest presence is in every small contracting
                                                                            and expanding,
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as birdwings.



"Birdwings" by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, from The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne. © HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.



 

5 comments :

  1. Ohhhhhh so sweet, and so comforting. I need to share this with a friend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The photo of the cockatoo is mine. Sheila Smart

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, it's good to know that, Sheila! Thank you! It's gorgeous!

      Delete
  3. But you did not ask my permission to produce it here. That is called copyright infringement

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    Replies
    1. I will delete the image, with my apologies. It is difficult to tell what is "fair use" and what isn't.

      Delete

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