June 5 — And, Yet
Living Sufism is sponsored and presented by The Sufi Way
And Yet
We’ve entered Living Sufism:
Reaching out, reaching in,
Love in a divided world.
We’ve come a long way.
Separate—yet connected,
Dormant—yet awoken—hearts,
Vacant—yet alive—bodies,
Unmoored—yet interdependent—lives.
We are still here,
Aware in the moment,
Relaxed in presence.
Self-transcendence. Love.
And yet—we perceive
New thresholds of loving.
Awake to mystery.
Open to possibility,
Pathfinding purification,
Transition point
At the gateless gate.
Inner threshold.
With Rumi, we say,
“The door is round and open,
Where the two worlds touch.
Don’t go back to sleep!”
May grace hold us,
In our transformation.
And yet—United in the One,
Beloved Community.
Gabriel Leslie Mezei. June 1, 2022
With thanks to the 2022 Living Sufism “curator” group.
Turn your life toward what you love,
if it is a child,
or the sea,
or the words in books,
the smile of a woman or a man,
the plants in a garden,
whatever it is,
grow there in that company.
Become like a tree that shelters other lovers,
roots finding secrets beneath,
crown-top waving in the sunlight no one sees.
Be true to that love, not to ownership.
Be like wind pouring through forests and clearings,
circling mountains,
running along rivers.
Turn your life to the big love
you have always suspected is the country you come from,
sing the way they sing there,
be that light-hearted
and warm-hearted
and easy-going
even into your death,
your sails full of love's assurance.
From Pir Elias Amidon’s Book of Flashes
a Pantoum on grief
skyeblaine
grief
a pantoum in practice
(with thanks to Emily Dickinson for “dwindled dawn”)
every grief is a true grief
a different flavor of love
if we do not love
we cannot grieve
a different flavor of love
without heart opening
we cannot grieve
what if we welcome it?
without heart opening
life is a dwindled dawn
what if we welcome it?
sorrow and joy, one song
life is a dwindled dawn
strangled without love
sorrow and joy, one song
we’re asked to hold them both
we cannot grieve
if we do not love
2022 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I'm writing a poem a day. These are drafts—they may never turn into anything more or they might flower. The Pantoum is a poetry form originating in 15th century Malaysia. It uses a pattern of repetition; the second and fourth lines serve as the first and third lines of the stanza that follows.
This program is sponsored and presented by The Sufi Way
*You can find the essay, "Beloved Community" by Pir Elias Amidon here
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