Whatever You Really See

A human being is essentially

a spirit-eye.

Whatever you really see,

you are that.

The Wandering Kings

The King of Tabuk went on like this,

praising Imra'u 'l-Qays, and talking theology

and philosophy. Imra'u 'l-Qays kept silent.

Then suddenly he leaned and whispered something

in the second king's ear, and that second

that second king became a wanderer too.

They walked out of town hand in hand.

No royal belts, no thrones.

This is what love does and continues to do.

It tastes like honey to adults and milk to children.

Love is the last thirty-pound bale.

When you load it on, the boat tips over.

So they wandered around China like birds pecking

at bits of grain. They rarely spoke because

of the dangerous seriousness of the secret they knew.

That love-secret spoken pleasantly, or in irritation,

severs a hundred thousand heads in one swing.

A love-lion grazes in the soul's pasture,

while the scimitar of this secret approaches.

It is a killing better than any living.

All that world-power wants, really, is this weakness.

The Vigil

Lovers cannot sleep

when they feel the privacy

of the beloved all around them.

Someone who is thirsty

may sleep for a little while,

but he or she will dream of water,

a full jar beside a creek,

or the spirit-water you get

from another person.

All night, listen to the conversation.

Stay up. This moment is all there is.

Daring Enough to Finish

Face that lights my face,

you spin intelligence into these particles

I am. Your wind shivers my tree.

You make my dance daring enough to finish.

No more timidity. Let fruit fall,

and wind turn my roots up in the air,

done with patient waiting.

The Old Poet's Waking

The old man's heart woke,

no longer in love with treble and bass,

without weeping or laughter.

In the true bewilderment of soul

he went out beyond any seeking, beyond words

and telling, drowned in the beauty,

drowned beyond deliverance.

Waves cover the old man.

Nothing more can be said of him.

He has shaken out his robe,

and there's nothing in it anymore.

There is a chase where a falcon

dives into the forest

and does not come back up.

Every moment, the sunlight

is totally empty and totally full.

Cry Out

Crying out loud and weeping are great resources.

A nursing mother, all she does

is wait to hear her child.

Just a little beginning whimper

and she's there.

Cry out. Do not be stolid and silent

with your pain. Lament,

and let the milk of loving flow into you.

The hard rain and the wind

are ways the cloud has

to take care of us.

The Most Alive Moment

The most alive moment comes

when those who love each other

meet each other's eyes

and in what flows between them then.

To see your face in a crowd of others,

or alone on a frightening street,

I weep for that.

Our tears improve the earth.

The time you scolded me,

your gratitude, your laughing,

always your qualities increase the soul.

Seeing you is a wine

that does not muddle or numb.

We sit inside the cypress shadow

where amazement and clear thought

twine their slow growth into us.