Offering Our Presence to the World - Barbara Taylor

Some words by the thirteenth century mystic, Rumi.

Your grief for what you’ve lost holds a mirror up

To where you’ve been bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look and instead,

Here’s the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.

Your hand opens and closes

And opens and closes.

If it were always a fist

Or always stretched open,

You would be paralyzed.

Your deepest presence is in every small

Contracting and expanding —

The two are as beautifully balanced and coordinated

As bird wings.

Once you conquer your selfish self,

All your darkness will change into light.