The 8th Day of Christmas: Falling in Love
from: https://serenityinthegarden.blogspot.com/2010/01/moon-gate.html
Dear Friends,
We greet you on this New Year’s Day with a question and an invitation.
The question: Why is it that we fall in love? How do we lose our balance to do this? And isn’t this a good thing, this falling?
The invitation: At the beginning of this New Year, listen to Rumi’s poetry calling you into the wide expanse of this new year. Try something different – slip to one side of yourself and fall in love with this new day.
The Lover
The Intellectual is always showing off;
The lover is always getting lost.
The intellectual runs away, afraid of drowning;
The whole business of love is to drown in the sea.
Intellectuals plan their repose;
Lovers are ashamed to rest.
The lover is always alone, even surrounded by people;
Like water and oil, he remains apart.
The man who goes to the trouble of giving advice to a lover gets nothing.
He’s mocked by passion.
Love is like musk. It attracts attention
Love is a tree, and lovers are its shade.
Listen oh drop!
Listen oh drop, give yourself up without regret,
And in exchange gain the Ocean.
Listen, oh drop, bestow upon yourself this honor,
And in the arms of the Sea be secure.
Who indeed should be so fortunate?
An Ocean wooing a drop!
In God’s name, in God’s name, sell and buy at once!
Give a drop, and take this Sea full of pearls.
Kiss
I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let's buy it.
So, dear friends,
On this new day, take a walk, or sit with your coffee, or listen to music, or read a Rumi poem over and over, and fall in love with the fresh splendor of some small thing today.
Chuck (with Almut & Hanna)
PS: The first two poems are from Love’s Ripening: Rumi on the heart’s journey translated by Kabir Helminski (A Shaiykh of the Mevlevi order) and Ahmad Rezwani (Iranian Sufi and scholar). The last is from The Illuminated Rumi, translated by the prolific poet Coleman Barks, and illuminated by Michael Green.
This post is part of our 12 Days of Christmas Series 2021/22: “Always we begin again…”, a Contemplative Journey towards the heart of Christmas. To enter our virtual gathering space or to subscribe click here. To share your thoughts with us, write us here or comment below. To consult with us, visit our PathFinder.
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Thank you, thank you.
Peace and Blessings, Almut & Chuck