in a little place,
in a brief moment
winter looks like this.
dry wisps of yellowed winter grass.
a cold, thin breeze.
snow rustling like sugar.
the great sufi poet rumi saw winter in its fullness . . .
winter is a time for death.
do you think death is a bad thing?
then you still haven't got it.
you've lived countless lives and died
countless deaths in an endless process of evolution.
each death has brought you more life.
without, death, there is no rebirth.
the ultimate death is nothing to do with the body.
it is the death of your self as separate from God.
you are standing at the edge of his ocean of love.
plunge below the surf of separation.
dive into the mystical depth.
dissolve yourself into that sea.
like a moth around a candle, be irresistibly drawn
to the light until you are engulfed by flames in an inferno of communion.
the lover chooses the fire because he knows
the secret: "the honey is worth the sting."
rumi
That second picture is beautiful...like a charcoal sketch...the poem too is very thought provoking for my befuddled brain this sunday morning..thank you..xx
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! I don't know that Rumi poem. Thank you! Winter is the dying. I love it. Another chance to die into the ground of being.
ReplyDeletewise words from Rumi and lovely photos
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steven, for these images, your words and for Rumi's thoughts. I read them and I find myself thinking of the other side, care of Dylan Thomas:
ReplyDeleteDo not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light...
My origins perhaps, but most of the time I'm all for the rage. Other times I tell myself to let it go.
hello kay - it was taken during a snow flurry. i really like it myself!!! have a peaceful day. steven
ReplyDeletehi jenny - yes it's metaphor is rich in terms of letting o of attachment and expectation. winter compels you to do that. have a lovely day. steven
ReplyDeletehello elisabeth! live life as it's meant to be lived through the course of your earthly life and then fly away to come back as whatever you need to be next. letting go of attachment - the idea that this is all there is. that death is final - well for the body it is - but in every other way it is a step on a long journey, a pearl in a necklace. have a peaceful day. steven
ReplyDeletethankyou for visiting crafty green! steven
ReplyDeleteThe beginning (and end?) of new growth at the very tip of the grass in the second picture - even the smallest blade of grass perseveres.
ReplyDeletea pearl in a necklace
ReplyDeleteYou have used words here that resonate deeply, both with the idea expressed in the Rumi poem, and my own view of love's greatest moments which outweigh the pain of its worst ones, which are merely the dark side of the light.
Snow like sugar-YES!- my little VW bug always looked like a gummy confection in the winter- no winter this year to speak of. Rumi's poem - just what was needed today- feeling loss of loved ones greatly- wanting to believe that there is more than just here and gone- recycling makes sense on this level of existence but is it just a wishful way to cope? wonder...always wonder.
ReplyDeletesnow is always such quiet beauty-- and the rumi poem is deep and resonant
ReplyDeleteI'm still very content in the beauty of winter.
ReplyDelete"...the honey is worth the sting"
I'm going to take this back to the manor with me and ponder on it a while. x
I love this Rumi poem. Does it have a title? Translated by?
ReplyDeleteI resonate particularly with the lines:
the ultimate death is nothing to do with the body.
it is the death of your self as separate from God.
And your view of coming back to see where it is you next need to let go, your next pearl in the necklace.
Very nice. thank you, steven
golden west - yes. perseverance is at the root or tip of life. letting go of the distractors and ditractions and welcoming the real immediate truth! steven
ReplyDeletejinksy - yes and love here is treated as an exerience and as a metaphor for the greater love we can experience which connects everything into - nothingness. steven
ReplyDeletewell linda sue i won't go about trying to convince you 'cause that's not my place and you figure this place out in a way that works for you right! . my knowing for me is that we pass through here out of need. when we have refined our fractal of the love that connects everything then we return into what is needed - or not. i have no problem with death. it's about the body. i am attached to my body. i could wish for something buffer, younger, but here i am!
ReplyDeletei am attached to the bodily presence of others through my feelings. i love my family and my friends and it isn't dispassionate to feel joy and sorrow at their flying away. i feel joy for their moving on. they're done with whatever their work was this time around. i feel sorrow for the loss of my loved people. my dad, my father in law, my mother in law, my best buddy. but death is a pearl in the necklace of our existence. that's all that i know. steven
hello "layers" and welcome. resonance is something that people experience with rumi and that's how i know that he was connected to something much greater. steven
ReplyDeletehey willow - winter's good for me and then as a metaphor - the winter of my life, the opportunity to think of things "on hold" well its immeasurably powerful in my own cosmology!! have a lovely evening at the manor. steven
ReplyDeleteHello Steven
ReplyDeleteit is great to be attached to a computer at last and to get back into messaging here and there....
I have been reading your lovely posts, and really like this Rumi poem extract.
Is the second image a charcoal sketch of magnolia buds?
Happy days
hello delwyn, i'm glad to see you here!!! really truly it's a photograph taken in a snow flurry of branches on a tree at the front of the house!!! steven
ReplyDeleteWell you need to mark that shot as extra special I think...it is so like a sketch...just beautiful...
ReplyDelete