The Song of the Reed

The Song of the Reed
by Hazrett Mevlana Yelaluddin Rumi

Now listen to this reed-flute's deep lament
About the heartache being apart has meant:

Since from the reed-bed they uprooted me
My song's expressed each human's agony,

A breast which separation"s split in two
Is what I seek, to share this pain with you:

When kept from their true origin, all yearn
For union on the day they can return.

Amongst the crowd, alone i mourn my fate,
With good and bad I've learned to integrate,

That we were friends each one was satisfied,
But none sought out my secrets from inside,
My deepest secrets in this song I wail
But eyes and ears can't penetrate the veil:

Body and soul are joined to form one whole
But no one is allowed to see my soul.

It's fire, not just hot air the reed flute's cry,
If you don't have this fire than you should die!

Love's fire is what makes every redd-flute pine,
Love's fervor thus lends potency to wine,

The reed consoles those forced to be apart,
It's notes will life the veil upon your heart

Where's antidote or poison like this song,
Or confidant or one who's pined so long?

This reed relates a torturous path ahead,
Recalls a love with which Majnun's heart bled.

The few who hear the truths the reed has sung
Have lost their wits so they can speak this tongue.

The day is wasted if its spent in grief,
Consumed by burning aches without relief

Good time have long passed, but we wouldn't care
When you're with us, our friend beyond compare!

While ordinary men on drops can thrive
A fish needs oceans daily to survive

They way the ripe must feel the raw can't tell
My speech must be concise and so fairwell!

translated by Jawid Mojaddedi

The Mevlani order of Tasawwf (similar to Sufism) claims this poem as a primary foundation to their path. We are all searching for a deeper love, a connection with that greater source of Love that is in all of us, in the mountains and hills, and is in Allah. Shams was a dear beloved to Rumi and when he was forced out of Turkey, Rumi started writing his separation poetry. His longing for reconnection with the Beloved does not distinguish between human love and divine love.
When I began this journey, I was coming from a place of a mild but present amount of disconnection and lostness in my life in Oakland/ Berkeley. As this trip has progressed, I realize that I have a lot of fear around exclusion. I am realizing that it is all part of the same thing: my longing for love is a longing for connection with Spirit that is alive in everyone as well as the Great Eternal One. I also think that my quest for this love comes from a need to be known.
Laughter and music, levity and gravity help me to feel known by others. Right now there is a music therapists group staying at the Dervish Brothers House and we have had the opportunity to sit in on some of their sessions. One of the things that stuck with me last night was that we are all reeds plucked from our Source, and that life is about the striving to reconnect with that Source. This is what music is. And I would add laughter, play, deep listening, mind altering substances, sex, food, and, of course, ultimate frisbe.
It is good to be reminded of my incompleteness and capacity for wholeness as we join in the Muslim Call to Prayer everyday, as we do Zicker, remembrance, and raise our voices and our hearts to the One who's love is everlasting and all-embracing. It is good to feel known by my traveling companions. Amein, Evallah.