Longing for Rumi's Beloved

This barren longing,

This lack of capacity

to feel Thy embrace Beloved,

Is breaking my heart.

My longing for thy kiss,

is a desert longing for rain,

it makes the cracks in my soul deeper and

in the cracks some flame is kindled on

the bone dry tinder of myself.

I wail,

I know it is wailing because I’ve heard it before,

In the Friends who’ve mingled love with separation;

Like those friends, I find myself beginning to turn -

It is the only thing that seems to ease the pain,

Like melting in some all-pervading ocean.

As my heart turns – it calls out this song:

Longing the fuel,

Love the flame,

I will burn `til morning

when nothing remains

but YOU.