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I lost my world, my fame, my mind —
The Sun appeared, and all the shadows ran.
I ran after them, but vanished as I ran —
Light ran after me and hunted me down.*
This Rumi poem moves me though I would be at a loss to explain it. A goal I have set for myself is to hang out with poetry when it appears in my life. My intuition says there is a new world waiting if I but resist the tendency to skip poems. This poem gets more meaningful to me the more times I read it! I now have my own explanation of what it means!
Most poems gift me with a word or a phrase.
You won’t be surprised to hear that my favorite line in this poem is: The Sun appeared, and all the shadows ran.
Undoubtedly, after marbles, shadows. (My attempt at a line of poetry!)
Is poetry a part of your world? Do you feel uncomfortable when a poem doesn’t make literal sense? How do you deal with this uncomfortableness? I would love to know.
Exploring the mystery continues – Nicky Mendenhall
*Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi
(1207 – 1273)
English version by Andrew Harvey
2 comments
Hi, Nicky. The marbles/diversity question took me back to childhood when we were interested in marbles. I didn't play the game because competition would have meant that I might have lost my marbles. I knew each one and loved it for itself – the little puries, the big shooter, cat's eyes… some were chipped, some looked new. My Dad had some that we didn't get to have as kids. They were made of real marble and stone, not glass like ours. I wonder where they are now? I really like the Rumi poem. It is now in my "Poems That Speak to Me" folder. The line that struck me is "Light ran after me and hunted me down." I believe it and am thankful that it does. There seems to be a word missing and its absence makes the poem more intriguing. "I ran after them, but (they) vanished as I ran." Thanks for the "Thought for the year!"
fluteyogi – thanks for your marble memories! Made me smile when you wrote I might have lost my marbles! I too wonder where your Dad's marbles are……
Your comment that the absence of the word "they" is insightful. I think I finally "got" one thing that the poem offered me when I could read it without putting a word in that space.
Enjoy the beautiful fall days. Thanks for exploring the mystery with me/us.
Nicky
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