February 3, 2005

A Crystal Rim



The
Earth
Lifts its glass to the sun
And light – light
Is poured.

A bird
Comes and sits on a crystal rim
And from my forest cave I
Hear singing,

So I run to the edge of existence
And join my soul in love.

I lift my heart to God
And grace is poured.

An emerald bird rises from inside me
And now sits
Upon the Beloved’s
Glass.

I have left that dark cave forever.
My body has blended with His.

I lay my wing
As a bridge to you

So that you can join us
Singing.

HAFIZ

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is like this site is such a bridge - in fact I think I hear you singing...

Thank you.

Darrell Grizzle said...

"An emerald bird rises from inside me..."

The Sufi mystics use this image of the "bird inside" in several of their poems. Here's one by Kabir, from the book "Perfume of the Desert," which sparked a lively discussion when I read it at a workshop recently...

There is a bird on this body tree
That dances in the ecstasy of life.
No one knows where it is,
And who could ever know
What its music means?
It nests where branches cast deep shadow;
It comes in the dusk and flies away at dawn
And never says a word of what it intends.

No one can tell me anything
About this bird that sings in my blood.
It isn't colored or colorless;
It doesn't have a form, or outline;
It sits always in the shadow of love.
It lives within the Unreachable, the Boundless, the Eternal
And no one can tell when it comes or when it goes.

Kabir says, "Fellow seeker,
The mystery of this bird
Is marvelous and profound.
Be wise; struggle to know
Where this bird comes to rest."

KABIR

I made the off-hand remark that the poem reminded me of the song by They Might Be Giants called "Build a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul." This led to a pretty deep discussion of how to do exactly that: how to build a place within our souls for this spirit-bird to reside.

blessings,
Darrell

Meredith said...

Thank you Darrell for sharing this wonderful poem! I had not heard of it before. It adds further light to the image of the bird; the metaphor is stunning. I would love to be a little bird and hear your group discuss "how to build a place within our souls for this spirit-bird to reside."

Thank you, dear Friend.