Birdwings
Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror
up to where you’re bravely working.
Expecting the worst, you look, you look, and instead,
here's the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.
Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralyzed.
Your deepest presence is in every small contracting
and expanding,
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as birdwings.
— Rumi, inThe Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
If this speaks to you, I'm wondering what it focuses on for you. Aging gracefully? Facing illness? Struggling at work? A break up? Kids leaving home?
Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror
up to where you’re bravely working.
Expecting the worst, you look, you look, and instead,
here's the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.
Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralyzed.
Your deepest presence is in every small contracting
and expanding,
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as birdwings.
— Rumi, inThe Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
If this speaks to you, I'm wondering what it focuses on for you. Aging gracefully? Facing illness? Struggling at work? A break up? Kids leaving home?
Comments