Today, I will do what I have said I would do several times and throttle back on the political comment/snark.On the other hand, like I learned from that great American, Pete Seeger, to simply speak of the human situation, in itself, is that not a political act?
Indeed it is, the Dude from Galilee was not rendered to torture and death for a few platitudes about how nice it would be if we were nice -- the fellow spoke truth to power at a time when the political situation was...delicate.
Like Woody Guthrie wrote, "...but the bankers and the preachers and the soldiers that they hired, they hung Jesus Christ from a tree..."
The piece below was written for the daughter of a good friend of mine. It is my response to the her mother's story of how her boyfriend dumped her like a half-empty bag of potato chips.
When I see you in the eye of my mind,"Ruminating mystic" refers, of course, to Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi -- known to us Westerners simply as "Rumi". He is a fellow worth getting acquainted with, about a zillion times more so, as a conservative estimate, than that other "Rummy".
is that just a memory of
something inside my head?
When I see your face before me;
When I hear your voice in my ear;
When I smell the sweetness of your breath!
When I...feel...
...the touch...
...of your tongue
on my lips...
What is that?
echoing synapses,
refusing to forget?
"The price of a kiss -- is your life!"
"What a bargain!"
The ruminating mystic said.
And yet,
You called it quits...
Probably the easiest way to get to know something of Rumi is through Coleman Barks who not only has beautiful translations but reads them masterfully in his Southern drawl.
2 comments:
Crazy Bird
Thank you for giving real meaning to me to Rumi's line--The price of a Kiss is your life....I love Rumi and I read him over and over again. Yet this line of his didn't hit home until I read this poem above written by you.
I guess it has to do with always having a haunting memory of the person who you use to love--
How are you??? I am loving reading your blogs--you are as clever and sensitive as I remember you!!!!!
Aww, gee whiz, Dianne, thank you so much!
I thought about sending you a mail that I had posted this one, but thought no, I wouldn't bother you.
If this humble effort gave meaning to Rumi's line -- that is thanks enough.
"Clever and sensitive"? Thank you! Sometimes I curse and despise these qualities! It hurts to see, hear and feel how we, supposedly, human beings savage one another.
We still have the glass bird you gave me hanging in the kitchen, many thanks!
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