True Lovers (5 Sufi Poems)
1 // Do you find Death, or does Death find you?
Avoiding death is like eating forever while refusing to be full. You are a candle burning. And every candle has its end. Besides, no one likes an everlasting light. There’s simply nothing ‘interesting’ about it.
Daniel’s been faking his own death for years. It helps him to believe in reincarnation. Better to trick yourself than resign to morbid fate he’d say. Whatever gets you through the day.
Yet if you heard him weeping violently in despair, or singing ecstatically like a crazed wolf beneath the moon, you too might believe in the magic of self-foolery.
2 // Love is a browning leaf. Let us not hold onto the green of Spring while it is Autumn.
True lovers spend time apart, longing for each other whilst rejoicing in being alone. Let us not forget that each single heart is self-sufficient. And yet, why try so hard unless required?
This is the dance of God’s leaf; that frees himself from the branch before falling helplessly to the ground. Let your lover be the soft fertile earth upon which you land, time and time again.
Daniel knows that in order to fall into the hands of his lover he must first reach new, dizzy and sometimes lonely heights...
3 // Daniel is perfectly alone again today. To be perfectly alone is to be in Love with another, but spend delicious time away from her.
When they eventually meet, Daniel laughs and runs excitedly towards her, as if it was ‘love at first sight’ once more. Then pretty soon he’s bored again, but stays because no love is ever Love without also its boredom.
Loving God is no different. Pray until you’re sick to death of your own voice. Stare into the Sun, God’s eye, until you cry. Take time less seriously. There is always hours in the day for excitement, for lust, for wine, for joy. Tedium, however, is the most timeless thing of all...
4 // When writing Daniel always begins with a question, and yet he never finds an answer - just more questions. After all, the whole point of a delicious ‘anything’ is to find a dozen other treats just like it...
5 // Dear, there is nothing to prove to anyone, not even yourself. The universe, however, is not just anyone, and is far greater than yourself. Imagine one dozen multicoloured ribbons already lied out in front of you; each one promising passion, life, curiosity, joy, wonderment. And imagine you’d stay just where you were and watch them float away....
You mock God only by your self-satisfaction, your pride, your stubbornness.
Be the idiot that pulls the wrong string, the strangest ribbon, the shortest straw. At least this idiot would learn something...
Daniel collects his ribbons in the form of stories and poetry only. He’s never been one for tattoos or gold trophies showing each of his great performances. But he is uncharacteristically proud of his ability to sleep through the year’s most important events.
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