You are a whole universe...

 

You haven’t dared yet lose faith 
     – so how can faith grow in you?
You haven’t dared yet risk your heart 
     – so what can you see of reality?
You’re obsessed – still! – with the carnal screams of your life.
How do you hope to step into the Mystery of the King?

               *
You are a sea of gnosis hidden in a drop of dew,
You are a whole universe hidden in a sack of blood.
What are all this world’s pleasures and joys
That you keep grasping at them to make you alive?
Does the sun borrow light from a mote of dust?
Does Venus look for wine from a cracked jug?

                              * 
There is no angel so sublime, He whispered,
Who can be granted for one moment
What is granted you forever.
And I hung my head, astounded. 

 

from Light upon Light: Inspirations from Rumi, by Andrew Harvey