“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.
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