THE ROAD FROM THERE 

TO WHO KNOWS WHERE 

Poem for Today - July 24, 2014

THE  NEWBORN

Muhammed spoke to his friends

about a newborn baby, "This child

may cry out in its helplessness,

but it doesn't want to go back

to the darkness of the womb.

And so it is with your soul

when it finally leaves the nest

and flies out into the sky

over the wide plain of a new life.

Your soul would not trade that freedom

for the warmth of where it was.

Let loving lead your soul.

Make it a place to retire to,

a kind of monastery cave, a retreat

for the deepest core of being.

Then build a road

from there to God.

Let every action be in harmony with your soul

and its soul-place, but don't parade

those doings down the street

on the end of a stick!

Keep quiet and secret with soul-work.

Don't worry so much about your body.

God sewed that robe. Leave it as is.

Be more deeply courageous.

Change your soul."

© Fariduddin Attar,

Street Sweeper

Ancient Persian Poet

Page 58, in 

The Hand of Poetry

Translations

Coleman Barks