June poems - Dee - pentepoets.com

June poems - Dee

6/28/2012

HEADING FOR THE LIGHT

An early rising
travelling through dawn
heading for the light
the way is straight
but road works hinder speed
unexpected detours
teach us patience
smile at fate
our destination lies ahead
somewhere in the light.

Dee Lister

Seen in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Circular Quay, Sydney

I saw a continually whirling cone of a cloak spinning from a point fixed by an invisible line from the ceiling. The following words were set on a pillar beside it.

We came whirling
out of nothingness
scattering stars
like dust

turning and turning
it sunders
all attachment
every stone
turns bewildered

beggars circle tables

dogs circle carrion

the lover circles

his own heart

by Manlana Jalal-al-Dia Rumi

1207 - 1273

3 Comments

Judy

6/29/2012 06:59:38 pm

Hi Dee

I really liked your 'travel' poem, as we have just returned from a road trip. I could relate to everything in it.

Particularly I liked the last two lines - there's something there for every traveller – through life, through this wonderful world.

And thank you for sharing the cloak with us. The worthwhile bits of life are made up of such moments.

Judy

Lyn

7/6/2012 07:53:45 pm

oh I do like this - we have all set out on journeys in the early hours, but I like the way this poem opens out, from a particular experience to the universal. I love the hope, the smiling at fate, the rhymes - rising, light, smile, light, and the way the one syllable words - dawn, light, etc - are changed to longer words when there are difficulties: hinder, detour, patience. I would only query that final full stop, which definitely indicates a destination, whereas I would prefer no punctuation, leaving the feeling of 'travelling hopefully'.

As to the Rumi poem you came across, it is a translation of course so who knows how the original might have sounded. As you kindly researched 'self-heal' in my poem, I have done the same for Rumi! He was a Sufi mystic poet who seems to have invented the Whirling Dervishes, he thought whirling helped him reach a higher spiritual plane. The poem is so profound, and I love the ambiguity of 'the lover circles his own heart', especially following those beggars and dogs and carrion. There are more verses which were not included in the piece you came across in Sydney, one particular section includes 'it is only God circling himself'.

Dee

7/9/2012 10:03:56 am

Hi Lyn,
Thanks for your thoughts on this poem; some I had not even realised myself, which I suppose leads to the thought that inspiration leads to the right words for the right time and situation. I will delete that fullstop! I must admit that punctuation comes naturally to me and I have to concentrate when I don't use it!

Your observations on the Rumi poem were really interesting. As you say, being a translation there is no way of knowing how the original sounded. I have often wondered about haiku and the various other Japanese forms of poetry: do they come out better in Japanese? Perhaps Brad can answer that one. Where are you Brad?

Dee

June poems - Dee

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