But listen to me. For one moment
quit being sad. Hear blessings
dropping their blossoms
around you.
by Rumi, interpreted by Coleman Barks
A little Rumi snippet from a longer poem ‘Burnt Kabob‘ (as translated/interpreted by Coleman Barks) that’s traveled with me since my early days on Holy Isle nearly two decades (!) ago. It jumped into my head yesterday as I was getting ready to leave my family in Holland again and I felt myself contracting a bit in defence to the feelings that were around…
One of the habitual reactions to difficulty that I see in myself and others, seems to be a kind of closing down, a curling in to a sense of isolation and separateness. And so I don’t think Rumi is saying here that there’s anything wrong with sadness, but more an invitation to drop the story and wake up out of being lost in thoughts and emotions.
Mary Oliver tells us in Wild Geese that ‘meanwhile, the world goes on’ and similarly invites an opening to the magic of life around us, even though there might be despair. Rumi, in true 13th century mystic style, points at the ‘blessings dropping their blossoms around us’. What does that even mean?! My rational mind may question this, but it does lead me to opening, to noticing, to reconnecting. And that made it easy to count my blessings of the last few weeks and the love that is glittering between us. Thank you Rumi…
