Listening to Rumi

 

“Whoever Brought Me Here,” by Rumi, is a poem I first heard 26 years ago and one that continues to resonate. I keep returning to it to remind myself of the deep mystery and wonder of being human in the world.  Coleman Barks read his translation of Rumi’s poem at the Dodge Poetry Festival in 1995. Bill Moyers was there to film it for PBS and that is how I first came to hear the words of a 13th-century Sufi mystic.

Poetry and Me

My love for poetry began early. I wrote my first poem in the second grade and as I grew older, the reading of poetry and the writing of poetry became increasingly important. In college, I majored in English primarily because of my love for language and literature. As I tested my vocation in life, I trained for a few careers, trying my hand at teaching, ministry, and social services before entering the medical field as a registered nurse. Throughout my searches and career changes poetry kept me grounded. My writing of poetry came to serve as a kind of spiritual journal. The loves and losses, the darkened days and the times of hope all took poetic form. I could later look back at what I had written to remember where I had been.

Pulling Me In

It must have been my interest in poetry and spirituality that pulled me into Coleman Barks’ reading of Rumi. His rich, resonant southern voice conveyed an oceanic sense of wonder as he read. In the poem, Rumi asks deep questions about life and about his own existence. Where did he come from? What should he be doing? He says he has no idea, yet in that uncertainty, he can say, My soul is from elsewhere, I am sure of that. Who has not felt that way? Perhaps not everyone is bold enough to say it, so Rumi says it for us. Life is such a remarkable thing – our humanity so amazing and precious – we cannot help telling ourselves stories of wonder to explain our origins and our destiny.

As Rumi ponders his life, he compares himself to a bird from another country trapped in an aviary dreaming of the day when he can fly home. So many of us find ourselves thinking there must be some higher calling even though we are stuck here in this workstation, this gray cubicle, this factory line. Surely my life was meant for more than this workaday drudgery. Rumi dares us to imagine that somehow we will find a way to live in life’s grandeur.

Living with the Questions

This short poem asks immense questions about the essence of our nature, questions in which the poet hints that the divine is perhaps knit within his own being, yet he realizes he is far from knowing. If I could taste one sip of an answer, I could break out of this prison for drunks. He declares that when he finds himself back where he came from, he will be awake and sober.

I treasure this poem because Rumi finds transcendence within the limitations of his surroundings. He encourages me with his capacity to trust the mystery of life. He reminds me that I had nothing to do with my arrival in this world, and I can rest in the hope that the outcome will be buoyed by the same creative beginnings. Rumi demonstrates how we can live with the questions, tap into the wonder, and trust the mystery.

I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.

Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home.

* Note: tomorrow I will post a video of Coleman Barks reading this poem by Rumi. To read "Whoever Brought Me Here." follow this link. For a brief article on Rumi, go here.

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