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WHAT
CAN I LEARN FROM MYSTIC POETS?
Reading
the work of mystic poets can be rocky going. You feel your
way through a stanza or two and wonder what you’ve read and
where you’re headed. The imagery is sensual, the feelings
passionate, yet the subject matter is often an allusion to
something that language itself cannot contain. The love that
pulses in
the poems of the mystics cherishes the sacred. Despite our
initial impressions, the poems speak of a deeply felt devotion
to God,
an experience of the divine that transcends any earthly reality. For
many of us, this intensity of feeling is not something we have
known first-hand. Thankfully, if we open ourselves to the power
of their poems, the mystics can show us bonds of love that entwine
heaven and earth. |
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HAFIZ
(1320-1389)
Persian Sufi master
From "Come
and Touch My Eyes"
Return!
That to a heart wounded full sore
Valiance and strength may enter in; return! ...
Hafiz:
The Mystic Poets, trans. Gertrude Bell (Woodstock,
Vermont: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2004) 58. >Read
More
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GERARD
MANLEY HOPKINS (1844-1889)
British,
born Anglican, converted to Roman Catholic
(Jesuit)
From "Pied
Beauty"
Glory
be to God for dappled things--
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; ...
Hopkins:The
Mystic Poets (Woodstock,
Vermont: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2004.) 59. >Read
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MEVLANA
JALAL’UDDIN RUMI (1207-1273)
Persian
Sufi master
In
the early morning hour,
just before dawn, lover and beloved wake
and take a drink of water.
She
asks, “Do you love me or yourself more?
Really, tell the absolute truth.”
Coleman
Barks, The Essential Rumi (San
Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997), 100-101.
>Read
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RABINDRANATH
TAGORE (1861-1941)
The “Shakespeare” of Bengal (Bangladesh)
Hindu,
Bridged Eastern and Western spirituality
From "The
Rain Has Held Back for Days"
The
rain has held back for days and days,
my God, in my arid heart. ...
Tagore: The
Mystic Poets, trans. Tagore (Woodstock,
Vermont: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2004) 111.
>Read
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RABBI
LEVI YITZHAK OF BERDITCHEV(1740-1810)
A Jewish Mystic of Eastern
Europe
Where
I wander – you!
Where I ponder – You!
Only You, You again, always You! ...
Martin Buber, Tales of the
Hasidim (New York: Schocken Books, 1975).
> Read
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