Each moment.
Each moment runs rich
like a river after rain --
        murky
        and full of what surrounds it.
        What moves it. What bends,
        twists and turns it so.
        Alive with where it has been,
        and alive with where it will go.

Each moment
runs rich
like a river after rain --
        wet and heavy,
        full of joy,
        and full of pain.

Each moment
runs rich
like a river.

        Be there.

The full moon rises quiet
in the night
behind the cover of clouds. Light
is light is light. Seen,
or not. Where the eyes go,
where the hands move,
where the heart stirs, love
may grow. Time

lives outside the circle. A
statistic small and frail.
The wind is real.
Voices of crickets and katydids.
The hungry web of the spider. Look,

and be found. Be found,
and behold. Behold,
and be held. Be held
by the web. Be held
by the light. Be held
by the moon
rising quiet
in the night.

“inshallah,
inshallah,”
he would say

“inshallah,
inshallah,
I will return home in May”

and “god-willing,
god-willing,” we say
might the almighty soul find a home
and might this
be that day

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and attend them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
clean of all its furniture,
still, treat each guest honourably.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
greet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.


-- Jelaluddin Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks

The fire
sets wood aside
saving up for another day

While the flame
grows smaller
until only ash remains

this moment
is as brief as they say it is -
              light rain falling
              on a still lake

this moment
is as brief as they say it is -
              light rain falling
              inviting this earth and its inhabitants
              to wake

                                 to wake

                                                        to wake