A Community of Spirit

Another zesty poem by RUMI (translated by Coleman Barks):


There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.

Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.

Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.

Open your hands,
if you want to be held.

Sit down in the circle.

Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd's love filling you.

At night, your beloved wanders.
Don't accept consolations.

Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover's mouth in yours.

You moan, "She left me." "He left me."
Twenty more will come.

Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.

Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.


A community of spirit was dynamically demonstrated at SUNY Purchase this past Monday when an impromptu anti-gay protest occurred. Of course, being a heavily queer/queer friendly campus the demonstration quickly turned into an anti-anti-gay protest. For more on this event (photos inclusive) see Milo's blog at http://funtimeusa.wordpress.com/