Estrella

“Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving; To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy; To return home at eventide with gratitude; And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.”  Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (14)

In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep. Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all that has been shown you of that which is between birth and death.   - Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (10)

The Reed Flute's Work I say to the reed flute, You do the work, but you know sweet secrets too. You share the friend's breathing. What could you need from me? The reed replies, Knowledge is for total destruction. I say, Burn me completely then and leave no knowing. How could I, when it is knowledge that leads us? But that knowledge has lost compassion and grown disgusted with itself. It has forgotten about silence and emptiness. A reed flute has nine holes and it is a model of human consciousness, beheaded, though still in love with lips. This is your disgrace, this moaning. Weep for the sounds you make. ** Provided from The Collected Translations of Coleman Barks -  Rumi: The Big Red Book - The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love & Friendship - Odes and Quatrains from The Shams