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Open up a rare shop-Reflections on Rumi
Rumi often knows how to say things that I have only felt. Yet, when I see the words, everything inside me leaps to my throat and I must speak (or write).
In The Purity of Desire, Daniel Ladinsky and Nancy Owen Barton translated some of the most beautiful poems of Rumi and placed them in a compilation. Some are easier than others to understand, as most poetry goes. These, however, the more I return to them, to read a few and ponder, the more memories of times and places come to the forefront of my mind. These memories then spark feelings (or vice versa) and I recognize in myself some kind of resonance with the words. The meaning deepens and the colors of the memories become more vibrant. This poem, Open up a rare shop, asks the reader to explore safety, comfort, nourishment, and love. The interconnectedness of all of these is made clear in his words. We begin:
Away from the city, where one need not be so on guard,
The beauty of giving to all around may again rise in you.
The places where we feel safest, often in the natural world, are the places we feel the most love. The parts of us that want to give that love have space to open up and be received. We go to the forest, the wetlands, the fields, and the rivers to access this part of ourselves…the part that is not always welcome in our day-to-day lives.
