The beauty of form

Ghazal 1419 is about freedom and it is about the path to liberation. Liberation means to de-condition, de-identify from all that we think we know. It takes a while until the body and the mind have adapted to a life suspended upside down. There is doubt, fear and agony until one day there is this knowing: I am free.  And then I look up at my toes and smile….

I was ready to tell
the story of my life
but the ripple of tears
and the agony of my heart
wouldn’t let me

i began to stutter
saying a word here and there
and all along i felt
as tender as a crystal
ready to be shattered

in this stormy sea
we call life
all the big ships
come apart
board by board

how can i survive
riding a lonely
little boat
with no oars
and no arms

my boat did finally break
by the waves
and i broke free
as i tied myself
to a single board

though the panic is gone
i am now offended
why should i be so helpless
rising with one wave
and falling with the next

i don’t know
if i am
nonexistence
while i exist
but i know for sure
when i am
i am not
but
when i am not
then i am

now how can i be
a skeptic
about the
resurrection and
coming to life again

since in this world
i have many times
like my own imagination
died and
been born again

that is why
after a long agonizing life
as a hunter
i finally let go and got
hunted down and became free

From: Rumi ” Fountain of Fire”
translated by Nader Khalili