It is A Holy Tongue we share....by Belle Heywood

If only we human lovers knew 
a kiss is not a kiss
of lips alone. 

Not two
mere skins
making temporary flame.

No boys at play
rubbing sticks, creating
passing thrills of heat

It is A Holy Tongue
we share.

Speaking in Tongues
is speaking in Flame
is speaking devotion
with no beginning or end

Lips of surrender
shower upon mystery
the way a Lama throws
petals into space
to grace

Breathing is
beholding sun and moon

Moving hands
are offering
continents and Meru

There is no way to this
through intellect
but only through
a narrow gateway

the holiness of which
is only known
by those who
have the courage to pass through

If only we human lovers knew
a kiss is not a kiss
of lips alone.

~ Belle Heywood

Sacred paradoxes....by Rumi

Off with you! 
Know that the lover's religion is
contrary to other ways, 
for false dealings from the Friend
are better than sincerity and kindliness.

What is unthinkable for Him is the actual state,
His chastisement the reward, all of His tyranny justice,
His slander equity.

His harshness is soft,
His synagogue the Kaaba
the thorn driven home by the Heart-ravisher
is sweeter than roses and basil.

When He is sour,
He is more excellent than a house of sugar;
when He comes to you in annoyance,
He is all affection and kisses.

When He says to you, "By God, I am sick of you!",
that is Khidr's elixir from the Fountain of Life.

When He says "No!"
a thousand yea's are hidden within it;
in this religion of the selfless,
He becomes family
and self by remaining a stranger.

His unbelief is faith, His stones all coral,
His miserliness generosity, His offenses all forgiveness.

If you taunt me and say,
"Your religion is bent out of shape!"
well, I have bought the religion of His bent
eyebrow for the price of my spirit.

This bent religion has made me drunk! Enough!
I will shut my lips you continue,
oh illuminated heart, and
recite the rest silently!

Oh Beloved ! Oh my Shams of God Tabrizi!
What sugar you pour down!
You voice a hundred arguments and
proofs from my mouth!

~ Rumi
Ghazal 1869,
from the Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love - The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi"
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1983
Art by Semmick Photo

Ripen fig...by Rumi

Now that You live here in my chest,
anywhere we sit is a mountaintop.

And those other images,
which have enchanted people
like porcelain dolls from China,
which have made men and women weep
for centuries, even those have changed now.

What used to be pain is a lovely bench
where we can rest under the roses.

A left hand has become a right.
A dark wall, a window.

A cushion in a shoe heel,
the leader of the community!

Now silence. What we say
is poison to some
and nourishing to others.

What we say is a ripe fig,
but not every bird that flies
eats figs.

~ Rumi