Spiritual Sunday
In response to a white terrorist’s slaughter of 49 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, I turn to two poems by the 13th century Sufi mystic Rumi. Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam, and Rumi helps us move beyond our conventional understanding of death to a deeper understanding of how spirit works in the world. The poems are to be found in Rumi, Fountain of Fire, translated by Nader Khalili.
I realize that poetry offers only scant consolation at such times as words cannot begin to capture the heartbreak of the victims’ family and friends. But poetry comes closer than any other use of language. As I tell my students, poems are words doing heavy lifting, words working double time.
In the first poem, we are reassured that we are deathless souls because we are filled with God’s glow. When we step beyond malice and allow our hearts to be immersed in “this blissful love,” “there is nothing but happiness and good times”:
you mustn't be afraid of death
you're a deathless soul
you can't be kept in a dark grave
you're filled with God's glow
be happy with your beloved
you can't find any better
the world will shimmer
because of the diamond you hold
when your heart is immersed
in this blissful love
you can easily endure
any bitter face around
in the absence of malice
there is nothing but
happiness and good times
don't dwell in sorrow my friend
The second poem reminds us that we must not wait until after death to show our love. Rise about your animalistic spite, Rumi instructs us, and “be kind to one another”:
come on sweetheart
let's adore one another
before there is no more
of you and me
a mirror tells the truth
look at your grim face
brighten up and cast away
your bitter smile
a generous friend
gives life for a friend
let's rise above this
animalistic behavior
and be kind to one another
spite darkens friendships
why not cast away
malice from our heart
once you think of me
dead and gone
you will make up with me
you will miss me
you may even adore me
why be a worshiper of the dead
think of me as a goner
come and make up now
since you will come
and throw kisses
at my tombstone later
why not give them to me now
this is me
that same person
i may talk too much
but my heart is silence
what else can i do
i am condemned to live this life
The last stanza calls for us to look past whatever irritants we may encounter in the other person and commune with the heart. We are not to be thrown off balance by this life to which we are condemned. Instead, we must throw kisses.