I found a book in a second hand store that goes by the title of this thread. The front page with inscribed with the following handwritten message:
"To Erik with love--I look forward to many years of reading to each other! Cindy 2003"
Either Cindy and Erik finished the book and moved on to other tomes of poetry or perhaps they simply moved on...
At any rate the book is replete with beautiful works and I thought this might be an interesting place to share selections from this or other sources of spiritual poetry.
To begin:
In long devotion to forms that cheat
Thou has suffered the days of thy life to fleet:
But outward forms are still passing away,
Changing their fashion from day to day.
Tread not ever on stones that are rough to they feet;
Nor shift from one branch to another thy seat.
Seek high o'er the sphere of the world thy rest;
In the world of reality make thee a nest.
If Truth be thine object, form-worshippers shun;
For form is manifold, Truth is one.
In number trouble and error like.
To Unity then for sure refuge fly.
If the might of the foeman oppress thee sore.
Fly to the fortress and fear no more.
--Jami (trans. anon.)
I find it difficult to schedule the library, too--and I am a full time student 🙂
When I do afford that luxury for myself, I find myself in a temple. Some of the poems I have found in this book are also online, which leads me to surfing from poetry to sites of spiritual texts.
Each day, I focus my meditations and practices around a word...sometimes I post on Facebook or The Daily Om, another social media I sometimes frequent. Today, I attended a conference that focuses on issues of hunger in my state and ways to address the ever growing need (one in three children face hunger in Texas). I thought about hunger in spiritual terms...Jesus taught, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." It is said that the subject of hunger is one of the most addressed issues in the Christian texts, both in physical and spiritual senses.
In the the tradition of Islam is is said that, “He is not a Muslim who goes to bed satiated while his neighbor goes hungry."
In my experience, I am best fed spiritually when I reach out and feed another being.
I was a tiny bug, now a mountain.
I was left behind, now honored at the head.
You healed my wounded hunger and anger,
And made me a poet who sings about joy.
Rumi
Also thanks, I can't provide a poem in return, but if you were not following this thread then look at page 5, post 11 (vistesd's posts are normally worth reading) and he provided 3 poems I enjoyed: Thread 159759
Originally posted by hakima"In my experience, I am fed spiritually when I reach out and feed another being." - hakima
I find it difficult to schedule the library, too--and I am a full time student 🙂
When I do afford that luxury for myself, I find myself in a temple. Some of the poems I have found in this book are also online, which leads me to surfing from poetry to sites of spiritual texts.
Each day, I focus my meditations and practices around a word...sometimes I p ...[text shortened]... head.
You healed my wounded hunger and anger,
And made me a poet who sings about joy.
Rumi
Scripture states, "It is not in knowing the law, but in doing what the law requires.".
Jesus said to follow the "spirit" of the law.
The 'Law' of God is about love, and love is an action.
It matters not whether you are thiest or athiest. When you reach out to another in compassion, to feed, to clothe, to just be there. You are in God and He in you.
Originally posted by DeepThoughtDeepThought,
Also thanks, I can't provide a poem in return, but if you were not following this thread then look at page 5, post 11 (vistesd's posts are normally worth reading) and he provided 3 poems I enjoyed: Thread 159759
Thank you for the reference to the poems in the other thread. When I read them, I thought of this one too. Enjoy!
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
--Rumi
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
--Mary Oliver
My word today is "Grace," the sort that is freely given rather than earned as I understood in the tradition of my youth.
I find that when I truly embrace the grace of my true nature, all of the rest...the seeking, the striving to be good or righteous or even civil, the decisions and problems that plague me as a sojourner on this vast blue rock...falls into their most effective places.
Taoist Song
I will cast out Wisdom and reject Learning.
My thoughts shall wander in the Great Void
Always repenting of wrongs done
Will never bring my heart to rest.
I cast my hood in a single stream;
But my joy is as though I possessed a Kingdom.
I loose my hair and go singing;
To the four frontiers men join in my refrain.
This is the purport of my song:
"My thoughts shall wander in the Great Void."
--Chi K'ang (trans Arthur Waley)
This one isn't in the book, but I was reminded of it today. It fits here:
"Anthem"
The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government --
signs for all to see.
I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.
Ring the bells that still can ring ...
You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in
--Leonard Cohen
Joy! Joy! I triumph! Now no more I know
Myself as simply me. I burn with love
Unto myself, and bury me in love.
The centre is within me and its wonder
Lies as a circle everywhere about me.
Joy! Joy! No mortal thought can fathom me.
I am the merchant and the pearl at once.
Lo, Time and Space lie crouching at my feet.
Joy! Joy! When I would reveal in a rapture.
I plunge into myself and all things know.
--Farīd ud-Dīn Attar Abū Hamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm
Every instant thou art dying and returning. "This world
is but a moment." said the Prophet.
Our thought is an arrow shot by Him: how should it stay
in the air? It flies back to God.
Every instant the world is being renewed, and we are unaware
of its perpetual change.
Life is ever pouring in afresh, though in the body it has the
semblance of continuity.
From its swiftness it appears continuous, like the spark
thou whirlest with thy hand.
Time and duration are phenomena produced by the
rapidity of Divine Action.
As a firebrand dexterously whirled presents the appearance
of a long line of fire.
--Rumi (trans. Reynold Nicholson)