Rumi's voice in Creation.
I love Rumi, particularly Coleman Barks' translations. I've been reading The Kindness of Strangers (lovely book in itself), and in one of the stories there's an excerpt from a Rumi poem that is so perfectly right for the giganto!fic (tentative title: Creation), it's all I can do not to crack that file open and dive in again, over my head. That impulse is fighting with the need to regain control over the rest of the WIPs, and the irony is, Creation is all about characters wrestling with their own Chaos...
The poem that sparked it all:
Spring Giddiness
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.
I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let's buy it.
Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?
All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reedsong. If it
fades, we fade.
***
Ohhhh, yeah. Every other poem I read is giving me ideas. This stanza alone is so perfectly G/E (down to the virgule) it's staggering: "You are in love with me, I shall make you perplexed./Do not build much, for I intend to have you in ruins."
There is also the poem Like This, which is so, so gorgeous.
And bits and pieces here and there:
If you don't find true balance, anyone can deceive you.
and:
I opened my chest and showed her my scars,
I told her to bring me news
of my bloodthirsty Lover
and:
A house of love with no limits
and:
...Even if you lose yourself in wrath
for a hundred thousand years,
at the end you will discover,
it is me, who is the culmination of your dreams.
Didn't I tell you
not to be satisfied with the veil of this world?
I am the master illusionist,
it is me, who is the welcoming banner at the gate of your contentment...
and:
Last night you left me and slept
your own deep sleep. Tonight you turn
and turn. I say,
"You and I will be together
till the universe dissolves."
You mumble back things you thought of
when you were drunk.
and this:
...last night I finally caught
your attention in the crowd
it was your image filling my dream
telling me to stop this wandering
stop this search for
good and evil
I said my dear prophet
give me some of
that you've drunk for ecstasy of life
if I let you drink you said
any of this burning flame
it will scorch your mouth and throat
your portion has been
given already by heaven
ask for more at your peril
I lamented and begged
I desire much more
please show me the source
I have no fear
to burn my mouth and throat
I'm ready to drink every flame and more.
*guh* Yeaaaah. *swoon*
The poem that sparked it all:
Spring Giddiness
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.
I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let's buy it.
Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?
All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reedsong. If it
fades, we fade.
***
Ohhhh, yeah. Every other poem I read is giving me ideas. This stanza alone is so perfectly G/E (down to the virgule) it's staggering: "You are in love with me, I shall make you perplexed./Do not build much, for I intend to have you in ruins."
There is also the poem Like This, which is so, so gorgeous.
And bits and pieces here and there:
If you don't find true balance, anyone can deceive you.
and:
I opened my chest and showed her my scars,
I told her to bring me news
of my bloodthirsty Lover
and:
A house of love with no limits
and:
...Even if you lose yourself in wrath
for a hundred thousand years,
at the end you will discover,
it is me, who is the culmination of your dreams.
Didn't I tell you
not to be satisfied with the veil of this world?
I am the master illusionist,
it is me, who is the welcoming banner at the gate of your contentment...
and:
Last night you left me and slept
your own deep sleep. Tonight you turn
and turn. I say,
"You and I will be together
till the universe dissolves."
You mumble back things you thought of
when you were drunk.
and this:
...last night I finally caught
your attention in the crowd
it was your image filling my dream
telling me to stop this wandering
stop this search for
good and evil
I said my dear prophet
give me some of
that you've drunk for ecstasy of life
if I let you drink you said
any of this burning flame
it will scorch your mouth and throat
your portion has been
given already by heaven
ask for more at your peril
I lamented and begged
I desire much more
please show me the source
I have no fear
to burn my mouth and throat
I'm ready to drink every flame and more.
*guh* Yeaaaah. *swoon*