Let’s step back from Ken
Saro-Wiwa today. Yes, this is a National Poetry Month of resistance, but it
also encompasses persistence and resilience. All three of these things are long
plays. As much as we’d like to see our oppressors turned to dust with the flick
of a wrist, the reality is that they didn’t arrive here suddenly, and it’s
going to take time and considerable effort to boot them out and clean up after
them.
So we need to refresh
ourselves from time to time. Meditate, be mindful; rest and recuperate.
Ergo: let’s have something
from the 13th Century Persian poet we know as Rumi. “The Guest
House” is very frequently quoted during mindfulness retreats, so it seems
appropriate for today. It reminds us to invite into our lives and souls dark
things as well as light, because everything—every
thing—has something to teach us. And—I hope—to make us stronger for the
necessary.
“The Guest House”
This
being human is a guest house.
Every
morning a new arrival.
A
joy, a depression, a meanness,
some
momentary awareness comes
as an
unexpected visitor.
Welcome
and entertain them all!
Even
if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who
violently sweep your house
empty
of its furniture,
still,
treat each guest honorably.
He
may be clearing you out
for
some new delight.
The
dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet
them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be
grateful for whatever comes.
because
each has been sent
as a
guide from beyond.
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