Only breath

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam or Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

Jalaluddin Rumi, ‘Only Breath’

Checked youtube after posting this poem and found this very lovely clip of the poem being recited by Coleman Barks:

More Rumi:

●  The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition

●  Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing

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