with enlightenment
an echo in the spirit
fills empty bowls
©Vivian Zems
Inspired by the Sufi poet, Rumi.
Saladin’s Begging Bowl:
Of these two thousand “I” and “We” people,
which am I?
Don’t try to keep me from asking!
Listen, when I’m this out of control!
But don’t put anything breakable in my way!
There is an original inside me.
What’s here is a mirror for that, for you.
If you are joyful, I am.
If you grieve, or if you’re bitter, or graceful,
I take on those qualities.
Like the shadow of a cypress tree in the meadow,
like the shadow of a rose, I live
close to the rose.
If I separated myself from you,
I would turn entirely thorn.
Every second, I drink another cup of my own blood-wine.
Every instant, I break an empty cup against your door.
I reach out, wanting you to tear me open.
Saladin’s generosity lights a candle in my chest.
Who am I then?
His empty begging bowl.© Rumi (Tr. Coleman Barks)
March 15, 2018 at 5:53 pm
Your haiku is so lovely.
…and this turned my eyes in their sockets:
“If I separated myself from you,
I would turn entirely thorn”
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March 16, 2018 at 12:38 am
Thank you 🙂
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March 16, 2018 at 6:32 pm
Wow what a nice haiku you have shared with us. By the way … what a gorgeous image you have used.
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March 16, 2018 at 6:50 pm
Thanks Kristjaan😊
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