Birds Nesting Near the Coast –Rumi (1207-!273)

Soul, if you want to learn secrets, your heart must forget about shame and dignity.

You are God’s lover, yet you worry what people are saying.

The rope belt the early Christians wore to show who they were, throw it away.

Inside you are sweet beyond telling and the cathedral there, so deeply tall.

Evening now, more your desire than a woman’s hair.

And not knowledge, walk with those innocent of that,

face inside fire, birds nesting near the coast, earning their beauty, servants to the ocean.

There is a sun within every person, the you we call companion.