Tell me how you feel

 

Masnavi, Book V 

These words go beyond measure.
my friend, now tell me how you're doing

describe your states of being.

Your states rise from a wellspring that's ever new—
how could you settle for the stale and worn?

Tell us of those luminous moments.
where dust is lifted from lessons and numbered rules,
for the light of the heart shines greater.

If your inner state cannot be spoken,
then tell us of the outer one.

By the grace of the Friend,
even bitterness has become sweeter to the soul
than sugared cane.

A grain of that sweetness,
cast into the sea,
would turn its vast salt waves into honey.

Hundreds of thousands of states appear like this—
and then return again to the unseen.

Each day’s state is like the song of the reed,
a stream flowing, bound by no dam.

Each joy is new in kind,
each thought leaves another mark.

---

This body is a guest house, O young one.
Every morning, a new guest rushes in.

Do not say, “This one is an additional burden around my neck!”
For soon enough it will return to nothingness.

Whatever comes from the hidden world
is a guest in your heart.
Welcome it.
Receive it with joy.

---

And hear this story—

of that guest whom the woman of the house said,
“The rain detained him.
He has stayed upon our neck until dawn.”

The guest replied,
“O woman, speak not in excuses!
The rain does not fall so much—
he should have gone quickly.”

But again the guest remained another night.
And the woman said,
“It was the rain that held him back.”

The guest answered,
“O woman, make fewer excuses!
The rain does not fall so much—
he should have gone quickly.”

---

Waves of states come and go,

like guests who stay but never remain.
Excuses are illusions—
for each one is only passing through.
All that comes, comes from beyond.
The heart’s work is only this:
to welcome,
to receive,
to let go.