The Friend comes into my body
looking for the center, unable
to find it, draws a blade,
strikes anywhere.

RUMI

My dusty old new piano. To be rebuilt.

THE MUSIC

For sixty years I have been forgetful,
every moment, but not for a second
has this flowing toward me slowed or stopped.
I deserve nothing. Today I recognize
that I am the guest the mystics talk about.
I play this living music for my host.
Everything today is for the host.
RUMI

HARSH EVIDENCE

What sort of person says that he or she wants
to be polished and pure, then complains
about being handled roughly?

Love is a lawsuit where harsh evidence
must be brought in. To settle the case,
the judge must see evidence.

You've heard that every buried treasure
has a snake guarding it.
Kiss the snake to discover the treasure!

Don't run from those who scold,
and don't turn away from cleansing conflict,
or you will remain weak.
RUMI

Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
is a ring on the door.
Rumi

THE QUINTESSENCE OF LONELINESS
I am like a heroin addict
In my longing for the sublime state.

For that ground of Conscious Nothing
Where the Rose ever Blooms.

O, the Friend
has done me a great favor
And has so thoroughly ruined my life,

What else would you expect
Seeing God would do!

Out of the ashes of this broken frame
There is a noble rising son pining for death,
Because,

Since we first met, Beloved,
I have become a foreigner
To every world
Except that one
In which there is only You
Or - Me.

Now that the heart has held
That which can never be touched
My subsistence is a blessed
Desolation

And from that I cry for more loneliness.

I am lonely.
I am so lonely, dear Beloved,
For the quintessence of
Loneliness,

For what is more alone than God?

Hafiz,
What is more pure and alone,

Magnificently Sovereign,
Than God.

Hafiz

It doesn't matter that you've broken your vow
a thousand times. Still come,
and yet again, come.
Rumi

LONGING

Longing is the core of mystery.
Longing itself brings the cure.
The only rule is, Suffer the pain.

Your desire must be disciplined,
and what you want to happen
in time, sacrificed.
Rumi