By Rumi
What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?
The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God
And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move
That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, "I surrender!"
Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.
By John Tagliabue
Will you stop for a while, stop trying to pull yourself
together
for some clear "meaning" - some momentary summary?
no one
can have poetry or dances, prayers or climaxes all day,
the ordinary
blankness of little dramatic consciousness is good for the
health sometimes,
only Dostoevsky can be Dostoevskian at such long
long tumultuous stretches;
look at what that intensity did to poor great Van Gogh!;
linger, lunge,
scrounge and be stupid, that doesn't take much centering
of one's forces;
as wise Whitman said "lounge and invite the soul." Get
enough sleep;
and not only because (as Cocteau said) "poetry is the
literature of sleep",
be a dumb bell for a few minutes at least; we don't want
Sunday church bells
ringing constantly.
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