The minute I heard my first love story,

I started looking for you, not knowing

how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,

they're in each other all along.

~ Rumi

From: Love Poems

Translator: Coleman Barks

"This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet."

~ Rumi

"For sixty years I have been forgetful every moment, but not for a second has this flowing toward me stopped or slowed."

~ Rumi

A night full of talking that hurts,

my worst held-back secrets:

Everything

has to do with loving

and not loving.

This night will pass.

Then we have work to do.

Painstaking work,

then the swan

spreads its wings.

~ Rumi

Sweet is the Oneness

If ten lamps are in one place,

each differs in form from another;

yet you can't distinguish whose radiance is whose when you focus on the light.

In the field of spirit there is no division; no individuals exist.

Sweet is the oneness of the Friend with His friends.

Catch hold of spirit.

Help this headstrong self disintegrate;

that beneath it you may discover unity,

like a buried treasure.

~ Rumi

I Trust You

The soul is a newly skinned hide, bloody and gross.

Work on it with manual discipline,

and the bitter tanning acid of grief.

You'll become lovely and very strong.

If you can't do this work yourself, don't worry.

You don't have to make a decision, one way or another.

The Friend, who knows alot more than you do,

will bring difficulties and grief and sickness,

as medicine, as happiness, as the moment

when you're beaten, when you hear Checkmate,

and can finally say with Hallaj's voice,

I trust you to kill me.

~ Rumi, "The Book of Love", Barks trans.

When you plant a tree

every leaf that grows will tell you,

what you sow will bear fruit.

So if you have any sense, my friend

don't plant anything but love,

you show your worth by what you seek.

Water flows to those who want purity

wash your hands of all desires and

come to the table of Love.

Do you want me to tell you a secret?

The flowers attract the most beautiful lover

with their sweet smile and scent.

If you let God weave the verse in your poem

people will read it forever.

~ Rumi

From: 'Rumi - Hidden Music' Translated by Maryam Mafi

Plant the Seed of Truth

If you never searched for truth

come with us

and you will become a seeker.

If you were never a musician

come with us

and you will find your voice.

You may posses immense wealth

come with us

and you will become love’s beggar.

You may think yourself a master

come with us

and love will turn you into a slave.

If you’ve lost your spirit,

come with us

take off your silk coverings,

put on our rough cloak

and we will bring you back to life.

In our gatherings one candle lights hundreds,

We will light your path and give you courage

So you will open like a flower

and join in our joyous laughter.

Plant the seed of truth and watch it grow

when it spreads its branches

come with us and sit under the blossoms.

Your eyes will open to the secret of Truth.

~ Rumi

Childhood Friends

You may have heard, it's the custom

for Kings to let warriors stand on

the left, the side of the heart, and

courage. On the right, they put the

Chancellor, and various secretaries,

because the practice of bookkeeping

and writing usually belongs to the

right hand.

In the center, the Sufis, because in

meditation they become mirrors.

The King can look at their faces

and see his original state.

Give the beautiful ones mirrors,

and let them fall in love with

themselves.

That way they polish their souls

and kindle remembering in others.

A close childhood friend once came

to visit Joseph. They had shared the

secrets that children tell each other

when they're lying on their pillows

at night before they go to sleep.

These two were completely truthful

with each other.

The friend asked, "What was it like

when you realized your brothers were

jealous and what they planned to do?"

"I felt like a lion with a chain around

its neck. Not degraded by the chain, and

not complaining, but just waiting for my

power to be recognized."

"How about down in the well, and in

prison? How was it then?"

"Like the moon when it's getting

smaller, yet knowing the fullness to

come. Like a seed pearl ground in the

mortar for medicine, that knows it will

now be the light of the human eye.

Like a wheat grain that breaks open in

the ground, then grows, then gets

harvested, then crushed in the mill for

flour, then baked, then crushed again

between teeth to become a person's

deepest understanding.

Lost in Love, like songs the planters

sing the night after they sow the seed."

There is no end to any of this.

Back to something else the good man

and Joseph talked about.

"Ah my friend, what have you brought me?

You know a traveler should not arrive

empty handed at the door of a friend

like me. That's going to the grinding

stone without your wheat. God will ask

at the Resurrection, 'Did you bring Me

a present? Did you forget? Did you think

you wouldn't see Me?'

Joseph kept teasing,

"Lets have it. I want my gift!"

The guest began, "You can't imagine how

I've looked for something for you.

Nothing seemed appropriate. You don't

take gold down into a goldmine, or a

drop of water to the Sea of Oman!

Everything I thought of was like

bringing cumin seed to Kirmanshah where

cumin comes from.

You have all seeds in your barn. You

even have my love and my soul, so I

can't even bring those.

I've brought you a mirror. Look at

yourself, and remember me."

He took the mirror out from his robe

where he was hiding it.

What is the mirror of being?

Non-being.

Always bring a mirror of non-existence

as a gift. Any other present is foolish.

Let the poor man look deep into

generosity. Let the bread see a hungry

man. Let kindling behold a spark from

the flint.

An empty mirror and your worst

destructive habits, when they are held

up to each other,

that's when the real making begins.

That's what art and crafting are.

A tailor needs a torn garment to

practice his expertise. The trunks of

trees must be cut and cut again

so they can be used for fine carpentry.

Your doctor must have a broken leg to

doctor. Your defects are the ways that

glory gets manifested. Whoever sees

clearly what's diseased in himself

begins to gallop on the Way.

There is nothing worse

than thinking you are well enough.

More than anything, self-complacency

blocks the workmanship.

Put your vileness up to a mirror and

weep. Get that self-satisfaction flowing

out of you! Satan thought, "I am better

than Adam," and that *better than* is

still strongly in us.

Your stream-water may look clean,

but there's unstirred matter on the

bottom. Your Sheikh can dig a side

channel that will drain that waste off.

Trust your wound to a Teacher's surgery.

Flies collect on a wound. They cover it,

those flies of your self-protecting

feelings, your love for what you think

is yours.

Let a teacher wave away the flies

and put a plaster on the wound.

Don't turn your head. Keep looking at

the bandaged place. That's where the

light enters you.

And don't believe for a moment

that you're healing yourself.

~Mathnawi, I, 3150-3175, 3192-3227

From The Essential Rumi

Coleman Barks/John Moyne

Don't strive so much to complete your worldly affairs;

don't strive in any affair that's not sacred.

Otherwise at the end, you'll leave incomplete,

your spiritual affairs damaged and your bread unbaked.

The beautifying of your grave isn't done

by means of wood and stone and plaster;

no, but by digging your grave in spiritual purity

and burying your own selfhood in His,

and by becoming His dust, buried in love of Him,

so that from His breath, yours may be replenished.

~Rumi, Masnavi III: 128-1321

'Jewels of Remembrance'

Selected and Translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski

Not Here

There's courage involved if you want

to become truth. There is a broken-

open place in a lover. Where are

those qualities of bravery and sharp

compassion in this group? What's the

use of old and frozen thought? I want

a howling hurt. This is not a treasury

where gold is stored, this is for copper.

We alchemists look for talent that

can heat up and change. Lukewarm

won't do. Half-hearted holding back,

well-enough getting by? Not here.

from "The Soul of Rumi," trans Barks, p86

Surely there is a window from heart to heart:

they are not separate and far from each other.

Two earthenware lamps are not joined,

but their light is mingled as it moves.

No lover seeks union without the beloved seeking;

but the love of lovers makes the body thin as a bowstring,

while the love of loved ones makes them comely and plump.

When the lightning of love for the beloved

has shot into this heart, know that there is love in that heart.

When love for God has been doubled in your heart,

there is no doubt that God has love for you.

Mathnawi III, 4391-6

Translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski

"There is no early and late for us.

The only way to measure a lover

is by the grandeur of the beloved.

Judge a moth by the beauty of its candle.

Shams is invisible because he is inside sight.

He is the intelligent essence

of what is everywhere at once, seeing."

from "A Year with Rumi," Daily Readings, By Coleman Barks

~ Rumi

from "A Year with Rumi," Daily Readings, By Coleman Barks

Love means to reach for the sky and

with every breath to tear a hundred veils.

Love means to step away from the ego,

to open the eyes of inner vision and

not to take this world so seriously.

Congratulations dear heart!

You have joined the circle of lovers,

tell me in your own words

when did all this throbbing begin?

“I was absorbed in my work in this world

But I never lost my longing for home.

One day, exhausted with no strength left,

I was lifted suddenly by the grace of Love.

To describe this mystery there are no words.”

~Rumi

From Hidden Music

Translated by Maryam Mafi

& Azima Melita Kolin – pg 18

Love Dogs

One night a man was crying,

Allah! Allah!

His lips grew sweet with the praising,

until a cynic said, "So!

I have heard you

calling out, but have you ever

gotten any response?"

The man had no answer to that.

He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.

He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,

in a thick, green foliage.

"Why did you stop praising?"

"Because I've never heard anything back."

"This longing

you express  is  the return message.”

The grief you cry out from

draws you toward union.

Your pure sadness

that wants help

is the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.

That whining is the connection.

There are love dogs

no one knows the name of.

Give your life

to be one of them.

~ Rumi

“You are a song, a wished for song.

Move to the center, towards the sky and wind,

towards silent knowing.

~ Rumi

"I have lived on the lip of insanity,

wanting to know reasons,

knocking on a door.

It opens.

I've been knocking from the inside."

~ Rumi

Love is Reckless

Love is reckless; not reason.

Reason seeks a profit.

Love comes on strong,

consuming herself, unabashed.

Yet, in the midst of suffering,

Love proceeds like a millstone,

hard surfaced and straightforward.

Having died of self-interest,

she risks everything and asks for nothing.

Love gambles away every gift God bestows.

Without cause God gave us Being;

without cause, give it back again.

~ Rumi

Mathnawi VI, 1967-1974

There You Are

You're inside every kindness. When

a sick person feels better, you're

that, and the onset of disease too.

You're sudden, terrible screaming.

Some problems require we go for help:

when we knock on a stranger's door,

you sent us. Nobody answers: it's

you! When work feels necessary, you

are the way workers move in rhythm.

You are what is: the field, the players,

the ball, those watching. Someone

claims to have evidence that you do

not exist. You're the one who brings

the evidence in, and the evidence

itself. You are inside the soul's

great fear, every natural pleasure,

every vicious cruelty. You are in

every difference and irritation.

Someone loves something; someone else

hates the same. There you are.

Whatever eyes see, what anyone wants

or not: political power, injustice,

material possessions, those are your

script, the handwriting we study.

Body, soul, shadow. Whether reckless

or careful, you are what we do. It's

absurd to ask your pardon. You're

inside repentance, and sin! The wonder

of various jewels, agate, emerald.

How we are during a day, then at night,

you are those moods and qualities.

The pure compassion we feel for each

other. Every encampment has a tent

where the leader is and also the wide

truth of your imperial tent overall.

~ Rumi

-- Ghazal 2778

Version by Coleman Barks

"The Soul of Rumi"

HarperCollins, 2001

Rumi

A Smile and A Gentleness

There is a smile and a gentleness

inside. When I learned the name

and address of that, I went to where

you sell perfume. I begged you not

to trouble me so with longing. Come

out and play! Flirt more naturally.

Teach me how to kiss. On the ground

a spread blanket, flame that's caught

and burning well, cumin seeds browning,

I am inside all of this with my soul.

~ Rumi

Translator: Coleman Barks

ONE ONE ONE

The lamps are different.

But the Light is the same.

So many garish lamps in the dying brain's lamp shop, Forget about them.

Concentrate on essence, concentrate on Light.

In lucid bliss, calmly smoking off its own hold fire,

The Light streams toward you from all things,

All people, all possible permutations of good, evil, thought, passion.

The lamps are different,

But the Light is the same.

One matter, one energy, one Light,

One Light-mind, Endlessly emanating all things.

One turning and burning diamond,

One, one, one.

Ground yourself, strip yourself down,

To blind loving silence.

Stay there, until you see

You are gazing at the Light

With its own ageless eyes.

~ Rumi

The Guest House

This being human is a guesthouse.

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’re 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 GUEST HOUSE

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi

Sweet is the Oneness

If ten lamps are in one place,

each differs in form from another;

yet you can't distinguish whose radiance is whose when you focus on the light.

In the field of spirit there is no division; no individuals exist.

Sweet is the oneness of the Friend with His friends.

Catch hold of spirit.

Help this headstrong self disintegrate;

that beneath it you may discover unity,

like a buried treasure.

~ Rumi

Childhood Friends

You may have heard, it's the custom

for Kings to let warriors stand on

the left, the side of the heart, and

courage. On the right, they put the

Chancellor, and various secretaries,

because the practice of bookkeeping

and writing usually belongs to the

right hand.

In the center, the Sufis, because in

meditation they become mirrors.

The King can look at their faces

and see his original state.

Give the beautiful ones mirrors,

and let them fall in love with

themselves.

That way they polish their souls

and kindle remembering in others.

A close childhood friend once came

to visit Joseph. They had shared the

secrets that children tell each other

when they're lying on their pillows

at night before they go to sleep.

These two were completely truthful

with each other.

The friend asked, "What was it like

when you realized your brothers were

jealous and what they planned to do?"

"I felt like a lion with a chain around

its neck. Not degraded by the chain, and

not complaining, but just waiting for my

power to be recognized."

"How about down in the well, and in

prison? How was it then?"

"Like the moon when it's getting

smaller, yet knowing the fullness to

come. Like a seed pearl ground in the

mortar for medicine, that knows it will

now be the light of the human eye.

Like a wheat grain that breaks open in

the ground, then grows, then gets

harvested, then crushed in the mill for

flour, then baked, then crushed again

between teeth to become a person's

deepest understanding.

Lost in Love, like songs the planters

sing the night after they sow the seed."

There is no end to any of this.

Back to something else the good man

and Joseph talked about.

"Ah my friend, what have you brought me?

You know a traveler should not arrive

empty handed at the door of a friend

like me. That's going to the grinding

stone without your wheat. God will ask

at the Resurrection, 'Did you bring Me

a present? Did you forget? Did you think

you wouldn't see Me?'

Joseph kept teasing,

"Lets have it. I want my gift!"

The guest began, "You can't imagine how

I've looked for something for you.

Nothing seemed appropriate. You don't

take gold down into a goldmine, or a

drop of water to the Sea of Oman!

Everything I thought of was like

bringing cumin seed to Kirmanshah where

cumin comes from.

You have all seeds in your barn. You

even have my love and my soul, so I

can't even bring those.

I've brought you a mirror. Look at

yourself, and remember me."

He took the mirror out from his robe

where he was hiding it.

What is the mirror of being?

Non-being.

Always bring a mirror of non-existence

as a gift. Any other present is foolish.

Let the poor man look deep into

generosity. Let the bread see a hungry

man. Let kindling behold a spark from

the flint.

An empty mirror and your worst

destructive habits, when they are held

up to each other,

that's when the real making begins.

That's what art and crafting are.

A tailor needs a torn garment to

practice his expertise. The trunks of

trees must be cut and cut again

so they can be used for fine carpentry.

Your doctor must have a broken leg to

doctor. Your defects are the ways that

glory gets manifested. Whoever sees

clearly what's diseased in himself

begins to gallop on the Way.

There is nothing worse

than thinking you are well enough.

More than anything, self-complacency

blocks the workmanship.

Put your vileness up to a mirror and

weep. Get that self-satisfaction flowing

out of you! Satan thought, "I am better

than Adam," and that *better than* is

still strongly in us.

Your stream-water may look clean,

but there's unstirred matter on the

bottom. Your Sheikh can dig a side

channel that will drain that waste off.

Trust your wound to a Teacher's surgery.

Flies collect on a wound. They cover it,

those flies of your self-protecting

feelings, your love for what you think

is yours.

Let a teacher wave away the flies

and put a plaster on the wound.

Don't turn your head. Keep looking at

the bandaged place. That's where the

light enters you.

And don't believe for a moment

that you're healing yourself.

-- Mathnawi, I, 3150-3175, 3192-3227

Version by Coleman Barks

(Developed from the translation by Nicholson)

"The Essential Rumi"

HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

'In the Arms of the Beloved'

"Lose yourself, Lose yourself. Escape from the black cloud that surrounds you.

Then you will see your own light as radiant as the full moon. Now enter that silence.

This is the surest way to lose yourself....What is your life about, anyway?

Nothing but a struggle to be someone, Nothing but a running from your own silence."

~ Rumi

Translation by Jonathon Star

By love, bitter things are made sweet and copper turns to gold.

By love, the sediment becomes clear and torment is removed.

By love, the dead are made to live.

By love, the sovereign is made a slave.

This love is the fruit of knowledge.

When did folly sit on a throne like this?

The faith of love is separated from all religion.

For lovers the faith and the religion is God.

O spirit, in striving and seeking become like running water.

O reason, at all times be ready to give up mortality

for the sake of immortality.

Remember God always, that self may be forgotten,

so that yourself may be effaced in the One to Whom you pray,

without care for who is praying, or the prayer.

~ Rumi

Quoted in 'Essential Sufism' Fadiman/Frager

The Breaking Wave Of Love

Rumi

Ah, once more he put a fire in me,

And once more this crazy heart

is craving the open plains.

This ocean of love breaks into another wave

And blood pours from my heart

in all directions.

Ah, one spark flew

and burned the house of my heart.

Smoke filled the sky.

The flames grew fierce in the wind.

The fire of the heart is not easily lit.

So don't cry out: "O Lord, rescue me

from the burning flames!

Spare me from the army of thoughts

that is marching through my mind!"

O Heart of Pure Consciousness,

You are the ruler of all hearts.

After countless ages

you brought my soul

all it ever wished for.

The eyes of all people happy and sad,

are closed to the truth.

May their eyes be opened!

May they look upon God

and get drunk on His beauty.

May their hands reach toward the Truth.

May their ears hear the voice of the Beloved.

May the shadow of a Master

fall upon everyone who has devotion.

All the world praises you,

But where did this "you" come from?

All the universe is born of Love -

But where did this Love come from?

O Shams,

you are the owner of the land of life -

the light of every heart;

Even the King of Love

knows no love

that is not yours.

Ode 881

Version by Jonathan Star

"A Garden Beyond Paradise: The Mystical Poetry of Rumi"

The core of masculinity does not derive

from being male,

nor friendliness from those who console.

Your old grandmother says, "Maybe you shouldn't

go to school. You look a little pale."

Run when you hear that.

A father's stern slaps are better.

Your bodily soul wants comforting.

The severe father wants spiritual clarity.

He scolds but eventually

leads you into the open.

Pray for a tough instructor

to hear and act and stay within you.

We have been busy accumulating solace.

Make us afraid of what we were.

~ Rumi

'The Essential Rumi' Coleman Barks/John Moyne

The Ocean Surge

I want to be in such passionate adoration

that my tent gets pitched against the sky!

Let the beloved come and sit

like a guard dog in front of the tent.

When the ocean surges, don't let me

just hear it. Let it splash inside my chest!

~ Rumi, "The Book of Love"

Rumi

'The Essential Rumi' Coleman Barks/John Moyne

Solomon's Crooked Crown

Solomon was busy judging others,

when it was his personal thoughts

that were disturbing the community.

His crown slid crooked on his head.

He put it straight, but the crown went

awry again. Eight times this happened.

Finally he began to talk to the headpiece.

"Why do you keep tilting over my eyes?"

"I have to. When your power loses compassion,

I have to show you what such a condition looks like."

Immediately Solomon recognized the truth.

He knelt and asked forgiveness.

The crown centered itself on his crown.

When something goes wrong, accuse yourself first.

Even the wisdom of Plato or Solomon

can wobble and go blind.

*Listen* when your crown reminds you

of what makes you cold toward others,

as you pamper the greedy energy inside.

'The Essential Rumi' Coleman Barks/John Moyne

Only You

Only you

I choose among the entire world.

Is it fair of you

letting me be unhappy?

My heart is a pen in your hand.

It is all up to you

to write me happy or sad.

I see only what you reveal

and live as you say.

All my feelings have the color

you desire to paint.

From the beginning to the end,

no one but you.

Please make my future

better than the past.

When you hide I change

to a Godless person,

and when you appear,

I find my faith.

Don't expect to find

any more in me

than what you give.

Don't search for

hidden pockets because

I've shown you that

all I have is all you gave.

Rumi – Translated by Nader Khalili

My heart, sit only with those

who know and understand you.

Sit only under a tree

that is full of blossoms.

In the bazaar of herbs and potions

don’t wander aimlessly

find the shop with a potion that is sweet.

If you don’t have a measure

people will rob you in no time.

You will take counterfeit coins

thinking they are real.

Don’t fill your bowl with food from

every boiling pot you see.

Not every joke is humorous, so don’t search

for meaning where there isn’t one.

Not every eye can see,

not every sea is full of pearls.

My heart, sing the song of longing

like a nightingale.

The sound of your voice casts a spell

on every stone, on every thorn.

First, lay down your head

then one by one

let go of all distractions.

Embrace the light and let it guide you

beyond the winds of desire.

There you will find a spring and

nourished by its sweet waters

like a tree you will bear fruit forever.

~ Rumi

From: Hidden Music

Translated by Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Kolin

A Man Talking to His House

Rumi

I say that no one in this caravan is awake

and that while you sleep, a thief is stealing

the signs and symbols of what you thought

was your life. Now you're angry with me for

telling you this! Pay attention to those who

hurt your feelings telling you the truth.

Giving and absorbing compliments is like

trying to paint on water, that insubstantial.

Here is how a man once talked with his house.

"Please, if you are ever about to collapse,

let me know." One night without a word the

house fell. "What happened to our agreement?"

The house answered, "Day and night I've been

telling you with cracks and broken boards and

holes appearing like mouths opening. But you

kept patching and filling those with mud, so

proud of your stopgap masonry. You didn't

listen."This house is your body always

saying, *I'm leaving; I'm going soon.* Don't

hide from one who knows the secret. Drink

the wine of turning toward God. Don't examine

your urine. Examine instead how you praise,

what you wish for, this longing we've been

given. Fall turns pale light yellow wanting

spring, and spring arrives! Seeds blossom.

Come to the orchard and see what comes to

you, a silent conversation with your soul.

~ Rumi

'The Glance' Coleman Barks

‎

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

~ Rumi

"Form came as a branch of Love; for without love this form would have no worth. A branch is that which cannot exist without the root. Therefore God is not called a form; since form is the branch, He cannot be called the branch.

One said: love too cannot take form and be compacted without form. Hence it is the branch of form.

We say: Why cannot Love take form without form? On the contrary, Love is the artificer of form. A hundred thousand forms are raised up by Love, pictured alike and realised. Though the picture does not exist without the painter, neither the painter without the picture, yet the painting is the branch and the painter is the root. It is like the moving of the finger with the moving of the ring."

Excerpt from Discourse 36

~ Rumi

Your Triumphant Song

On that final day

When my casket moves along

Do not think my soul

  will stay in this world.

Do not weep for me, crying, Tragedy, tragedy
You will only fall into the snares of delusion -
  Now that's a tragedy!

When you see my lifeless body go by
Do not cry out, Gone, gone.
It is my moment of union.
It is when I come upon
  the eternal embrace of my Beloved.

As I am lowered into the ground
Do not say, Farewell, farewell.
For the grave is but a veil
  covering the splender of Paradise.

  Having seen the fall
  Consider the rise.
  What harm ever came to the setting Sun or Moon?

What appears to you as a setting
  is for me a rising.
What appears to you as a prison
  is for my soul an endless garden.

Every seed that enters the earth will grow.
Should it be any differenet with a human seed?
Every bucket that is lowered into a well comes up full.
Should I complain when instead of water
  I pull up Joseph himself?

Do not look for words here,

  look for them over there.
Sing to me in the silence of your heart.
  and I will rise up
  to hear your triumphant song.

~ Rumi

"Watching my hand; He is moving it. Hearing my voice; He is speaking... Walking from room to room -- No one here but Him.."

~ Rumi

"Yesterday, I was so clever; I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise; I will change myself"

~ Rumi

"Don't you know yet? It is your light that lights the world."

~ Rumi

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."

~ Rumi