Fire and Ice
Fire and Ice
...brings the soul alive.
Come to me hot.
Come to me cold.
But if you are tepid,
don't come at all.
I want your fire and ice,
not the platitudes and half-truths
diced with apples and cinnamon,
then baked into the American Dream.
Life is lived in fire and ice.
Everyone baptized by heartache
knows this as the gospel truth.
From the fiery chaos of relationship,
to the icy wilderness of loneliness,
God is stirring us in one great pot.
Take the education.
Take the spouse.
Take the job.
Take the house.
Take the money.
Take retirement too.
Take whatever the middle gives you,
but for the soul it just won't do.
Move into the emptiness
of question and answer and question.
~ Rumi
(trans. Coleman Barks)
