Say I am you and or you are me

I think this to be the most powerful to me poem I have ever read. Normally, I am really only a Rumi fan when it comes to poetry although I have written some of my own that I love that don't think most others will grok..

I have some disenchantment with this forum at present in that some seem to think they are the superiors and others are the ignorant and inferiors. This poem speaks to my heart in much better ways than those ideas do...

Quote :

Call Me by My True Names

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my
people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Now, THAT touches my heart.

Maybe the so-called "superiors" cannot understand this, but maybe an "inferior" can.

the poem seems a compassionate
reach out
appealing to
mixed emotions



you say
you have some misgivings
towards the forum
right now
because
SOME .............................

that hits right into
my emotional make-up
yet i do not know
if you mean that
much of me

is there another way
of expressing
even hurt
?????

is there a stop to teachers'
only pressing others'
buttons
?????

after all the medium
grossly enhances
our limitations
already

Rumi wrote:

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.


~ Rumi ~

Having the freedom to think and live the way one wants, unhindered, is what I am all about. But, when seeking, not all are on equal footing. I want only the best imput I can find. If that makes me out to be an elitist, well, I can live with that.

PS: I love Thich Nhat Hanh also, I have his CD's and many of his books. He is one of those I sought after with a superior spiritual intellect. Peace

would this (2) reach..

say i am you..


jalaluddin rumi shrine in konya, east turkey

hey you all..

what next?

we may or may not meet
at the next
train station

but only make it seem so