Did you know that today March 21st is World Poetry Day? With that in mind I'm going to show you a favourite poem of mine:

HEARTSONG

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed - the heart in a heartless world.

Rumi was a thirteenth century Sufi mystic. He produced some of the most sublime spiritual poetry ever. But the ethereal delight of his verse is tempered by an essential earthiness and deep seated humanity.

PUT THIS DESIGN IN YOUR CARPET

Spiritual experience is a modest woman
who looks lovingly at only one man.

It's a great river where ducks
live happily, and crows drown.

The visible bowl of form contains food
that is both nourishing and a source of heartburn.

There is an unseen presence we honour
that gives the gifts.

You're water. We're the millstone.
You're wind. We're dust blown into shapes.
You're spirit. We're the opening and closing
of our hands. You're the clarity.
We're this language that tries to say it.
You're joy. We're all the different kinds of laughing.

Any movement or sound is a profession of faith,
as the millstone grinding is explaining how it believes
in the river! No metaphor can say this,
but I can't stop pointing
to the beauty.

Every moment and place says.
"Put this design in your carpet!"

Like the shepherd in Book II
who wanted to pick the lice off God's robe,
and stitch up God's shoes, I want to be
in such a passionate adoration
that my tent gets pitched against the sky!

Let the beloved come
and sit like a guard dog
in front of the tent.

When the ocean surges,
don't let me just hear it.
Let it splash inside my chest!                                 Rumi
(Taken from 'The Essential Rumi-published by Harper Collins 1995)