Shadow and Light Source Both

Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi 1207 (Balkh) – 1273 (Konya )



How does a part of the world leave the world?
How does wetness leave water?

Dont' try to put out fire by throwing on
more fire! Don't wash a wound with blood.

No matter how fast you run, your shadow
keeps up. Sometimes it's in front!

Only full overhead sun diminishes your shadow.
But that shadow has been serving you.

What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is
your candle. Your boundaries are your quest.

I could explain this, but it will break the
glass cover on your heart, and there's no
fixing that.

You must have shadow and light source both.
Listen, and lay your head under the tree of awe.

When from that tree feathers and wings sprout on you,
be quieter than a dove. Don't even open your mouth for
even a coo.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

42 sec read
212

Quick analysis:

Scheme XX XX AX AB XX XAX XX BXB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 719
Words 137
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3

Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, and more popularly simply as Rumi, was a 13th-century Persian poet, faqih, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan in Greater Iran. more…

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