The practice of ecstasy

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There is a shimmering excitement in being sentient and shaped.

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                                                             The

caravan master sees his camels lost in it, nose to tail, as he himself is,

his friend, and the stranger coming toward them.

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                         A gardener watches the

sky break into song, cloud wobbly with what it is. Bud, thorn, the same.

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Wind, water, wandering this essential state. Fire, ground, gone.

 

                                                      That’s

how it is with the outside.

Form is ecstatic. Now imagine the inner:

soul, intelligence, the secret worlds!

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And don’t think the garden loses its

ecstasy in winter.

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It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous.

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If someone bumps you in the street, don’t be angry. Everyone careens

about in this surprise.

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Respond in kind. Let the knots untie, turbans be given away.

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Someone drunk on this could drink a donkeyload a night.

Believer, unbeliever, cynic, lover, all combine in the spirit-form we are,

but no one yet is awake like Shams.”

 

 

 

Rumi  (Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ), 1207-1273. 

In the middle of his life Rumi met Shams (Shams Tabrizi, 1185-1248).

Shams became his friend and spiritual mentor.

 

Chrysanthemums grown in the conservatory of Longwood Gardens, PA.  Legacy  of  Pierre S. du Pont, 1870-1954.

 

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “The practice of ecstasy”

  1. A delight in the night!
    Flowers’ blazing mystery
    Bearing colours a-flight,
    Reshuffling ecstatic Rumi’s poetry,
    Accompanying the entry of the soul
    In winter.

    Thank you!

    1. Thank you for your comment, Ioana!

      I like best that the tradition of Rumi includes the dark as well as the light; those of us who are cynics and sinners and those of us who are saints!

      Sarah

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