spring fever

 

Today, look: another day. Waking, wide open,
Afraid. Don’t dive into the library,
Into yet another book! Reach for your guitar,
Let love, let beauty, be what it is we do:
You don’t have to fly abroad, in order to kneel
And kiss the tarmac!

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going in and out of the door
where the two worlds touch.
The door is right there, look, it’s wide open!
Don’t go back to sleep.

I long to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Hearing this, love runs up to me, shouting:
‘What a bargain, buy, buy!’

Daylight, and the dancing dust motes.
The universe dances too; and so do our souls;
dancing with you, feet flying, they dance.
Can you see it, as I whisper in your ear?

All day and night, music,
one flute,
quiet, bright.
If it fades, we fade.

 

Rumi, transl. Tom Davis