Raw, Well-Cooked, Burnt....! by Rumi

You ask, “Why do you cry
with such
sweetness all around?”

I weep as I make the honey,
wearing the shirt of a bee,
and I refuse to share this suffering.

I play the sky’s harp.
I curl around my treasure like a snake.
You say, “What is this ‘I’ business?”
Friend, I’ve been a long time away
from that.

What you see here is
your own reflection.
I am still raw,
and at the same well-cooked,
and burnt to a crisp!

No one can tell if
I’m laughing or weeping.
I wonder myself.
How can I be separated
and yet in union?

~ Rumi
Excerpt from Rumi THE GLANCE Songs of Soul Meeting translated by Coleman Barks