Listen to the story told by the reed,
of being separated.
"Since I was cut from the reed bed,
I have made this crying sound.
Anyone apart from someone he loves
understands what I say.
Anyone pulled from a source
longs to go back..."   

-- Maulana Rumi  
 
As summer is saying its last goodbyes and fall is almost here, our world and our minds are increasingly taken over - not by the movement in the medicine wheel, not by the harvest and celebrating its gifts, but much more so, by the frenetic activity all around us. Of course, there is the election around the corner, with all its ensuing madness. There is name calling, finger pointing, vitriol; there is that smug smile, that holier-than-thou stance. And then, just past that threshold, lies the "holiday season," with accompanying concerns about relationships or lack thereof, of buying and receiving gifts that may feel like a chore or a pressure, of feeling left out of the circle of life, or being so hemmed in that there's no space to breathe!

Within all this frenetic madness, we take an evening to step back, relax, be in community, and read the lovely poetry of Rumi. These poems are in fact not meant to be read alone and silently to oneself, but to be read aloud, indeed sung aloud, to each other - for all to drink in the elixir. Let us see whether the words of this thirteenth century Sufi mystic, even in translation, may be just the salve we need at this time:

... Hear the love fire tangled
in the reed notes, as bewilderment
melts into wine. The reed is a friend
to all who want the fabric torn
and drawn away. The reed is hurt
and salve combining. Intimacy
and longing for intimacy, one
song...