Cry Out in Your Weakness -- Mathnawi II: 1932

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>"Cry Out in Your Weakness"

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A dragon was pulling a bear into its horrible mouth

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A courageous man went and rescued the bear.

There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save

anyone who cries out. Like Mercy itself,

they run toward the screaming.

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And they can't be bought off.

If you were to ask one of those, "Why did you come

so quickly?" he or she would say, "Because I heard

your helplessness."

Where lowland is,

that's where water goes. All medicine wants

is pain to cure.

And don't just ask for one mercy.

Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet.

Take the cotton out of your ears, the cotton

of consolations, so you can hear the sphere-music.

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Push the hair out of your eyes.

Blow the phlegm from your nose,

and from your brain.

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Let the wind breeze through.

Leave no residue in yourself from that bilious fever.

Take the cure for impotence,

that your manhood may shoot forth,

and a hundred new beings come of your coming.

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Tear the bindings from around the foot

of your soul, and let it race around the track

in front of the crowd. Loosen the knot of greed

so tight on your neck. Accept your new good luck.

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Give your weakness

to one who helps.

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Crying out loud and weeping are great resources.

A nursing mother, all she does

is wait to hear her child.

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Just a little beginning whimper

and she's there.

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God created the child, that is, your wanting,

so that it might cry out, so that milk might come.

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Cry out! Don't be stolid and silent

with your pain. Lament! And let the milk

of loving flow into you.

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The hard rain and wind

are ways the cloud has

to take care of us.

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Be patient.

Respond to every call

that excites your spirit.

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Ignore those that make you fearful

and sad, that degrade you

back toward disease and death.

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-- Mathnawi II: 1932-60

Version by Coleman Barks

"The Essential Rumi"

HarperSanFrancisco, 1995

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LoveAlways,

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Mazie

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