Look ! This is Love

----- poem by Rumi, Sufi saint -----

Oh, if a tree could wander
   and move with foot and wings!
It would not suffer the axe blows
   and not the pain of saws!
For would the sun not wander
   away in every night ?
How could at every morning
   the world be lighted up?
And if the ocean's water
   would not rise to the sky,
How would the plants be quickened
   by streams and gentle rain?
The drop that left its homeland,
   the sea, and then returned ?
It found an oyster waiting
   and grew into a pearl.
Did Yusaf not leave his father,
   in grief and tears and despair?
Did he not, by such a journey,
   gain kingdom and fortune wide?
Did not the Prophet travel
   to far Medina, friend?
And there he found a new kingdom
   and ruled a hundred lands.
You lack a foot to travel?
   Then journey into yourself!
And like a mine of rubies
   receive the sunbeams' print!
Out of yourself ! such a journey
   will lead you to your self,
It leads to transformation
   of dust into pure gold!

- Rumi