Pray Constantly
Pray Constantly
...as lovers do.
I'm not awake
yet our conversation
continues here and now,
yanked from the dream world
into a space that feels
deceptively solid.
Rumi assures me,
Lovers pray constantly.
Now I no longer doubt
this is what I've been doing,
both night and day,
whether hot or cold,
mile after dusty mile,
my heart soaked in tears.
I want to move
like time moves,
sneakily,
silently,
only noticed
at the mile markers of life.
I thought I was dying,
but just maybe
I'm being born again.
We meet at this appointed time.
You’ve read where it says that
Lovers pray constantly.
Once a day, once a week, five times an hour,
Is not enough. Fish like we
Need the ocean around us.
Do camel-bells say, Let’s meet again
Thursday night?
Ridiculous. They jingle
Together continuously,
Talking while the camel walks.
Do you pay regular visits to yourself?
Don’t argue or answer rationally.
And dying, reply.
~ Rumi
(trans. Coleman Barks)
*This is the night Rumi died, in 1273.
