This Monday Mary will facilitate.
Last Monday, we had such a good time sharing our thoughts and reactions to the wonderful poems Annie shared from a 10th century Japanese woman and Buddhist practitioner. This inspired me to continue the poetry theme. So much is contained in so few words.
This week, we will share a few poems from Rabia of Basra, an 8th century mystic poet who is considered by some as the 'most popular and influential of female Islamic saints and a central figure of the Sufi tradition'. Some consider her among the greatest influences on Rumi of Persia who came 500 years later. Rabia grew up in an ancient part of Mesopotamia in what is now called Iraq. She was on her own from a young age and while wandering about homeless was captured and sold into slavery and bought by a prominent brothel. She was abused physically and emotionally until bought out of bondage in her 50s. Out of her deep suffering came volumes of ecstatic love poems. As Thich Nhat Hanh frequently repeats, our deep understanding and compassion grow out of our greatest suffering.
I am so happy to share with you a couple of my favorites of her poems that have something to say about spiritual teaching, present moment, music, forgiveness and love.
A VASE
I am always holding a priceless vase in my hands.
If you asked me about the deeper truths
of the path and I told you
the answers,
it would be like handing sacred relics to you.
But most have their hands tied
behind their
back;
that is, most are not free of events their eyes have seen
and their ears have heard
and their bodies have felt.
Most cannot focus their abilities
in the present, and
might drop what
I said.
So I'll wait; I don't mind waiting until
your love for all
makes luminous
the now.
IT ACTS LIKE LOVE
It acts like love---music,
it reaches toward the face, touches it, and tries to let you know
His promise: that all will be okay.
It acts like love---music, and
tells the feet, "You do not have to be so burdened."
My body is covered with wounds
this world made,
but I still longed to kiss Him, even when God said,
"Could you also kiss the hand that caused
each scar,
for you will not find me until
you do."
It does that---music-helps us to forgive.
Translated from Arabic by Daniel Ladinsky
Love Poems from God: 12 sacred voices from the East and the West
I look forward to diving into these poems with you and sharing the fruits of our searching together.
