ninth month

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The Ninth Month

 

 

You watch the sensuous movements of the veil.

Do you know there's a Chinese girl behind it

whose face you can't see?

 

You see a reflection of the real moon

in all the stones that lie at your feet.

 

You're a leaf scattered by an invisible wind.

Don't you know something's moving you?

 

Unless some thought stirs that wind, you don't stir.

If the wind isn't still, you're not.

 

Constellations, planets, your inmost states

are like camels in a row. You're the last.

 

Curl up and drink in the blood

like a child in heaven's womb.

 

You feel a pain in the sphere of your heart,

but when you lift your head it's gone.

 

Your ninth month is Shams' face,

you, who have been trusted with the secret of both worlds.

 

O heart, be patient in this blood

until the ninth month.

 

- Rumi, Love is a Stranger, version by Kabir Helminski, posted to

Sunlight (nonduality highlights, mark otter)