Rumi: meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

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.

February 25, 2020 at 5:31pm · Rūmī.Jalāl.ad-Dīn.Muhammad · poetry · spirituality · silence · wisdom · earnestness · solitude · mindfulness


Previous:Thoreau: but what we have to stand on tiptoe to read and devote our most alert and wakeful hours to.
Next:Pound: That I lost my center fighting the world