My family calls me Pancho and I'd like you to know that I love you all.
Practically Preposterous! I've been many times to this home, the Kindness Temple, and yet I was nervous. One of the poets of all times who has inspired me the most was right here with us. The author of the passage! The one and only hermana Pavi :-) To make the impossible possible, I tried to bring to the living room --never and adjective was so perfect!-- another of the most influential poets in my life: Rumi. I did my best and recited the poem with the heart. Here is one of the poems that have stirred the soul very deeply.
LikeThis by Rumi
If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say, Likethis.
When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say, Likethis?
If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,
or what "God's fragrance" means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close. Likethis.
When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe. Likethis?
If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,
don't try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips. Likethis. Likethis.
When someone asks what it means
to "die for love," point here.
If someone asks how tall I am, frown
and measure with your fingers the space
between the creases on your forehead. This tall.
The soul sometimes leaves the body, then returns.
When someone doesn't believe that,
walk back into my house. Likethis.
When lovers moan,
they're telling our story. Likethis.
I am a sky where spirits live.
Stare into this deepening blue,
while the breeze says a secret. Likethis.
When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand. Likethis.
How did Joseph's scent come to Jacob? Huuuu.
How did Jacob's sight return? Huuuuu.
A little wind cleans the eyes. Likethis.
When Shams comes back from Tabriz,
he'll put just his head around the edge
of the door to surprise us. Likethis.
So, when someone doesn't believe you
that there is a family
who has opened their home
for almost 14 years
every single Wednesday
feeding more than 26,000 bodies and souls
with the only purpose to serve with love...
look at him or her
with loving eyes and your best smile
Like this :-)
May all become compassionate, courageous and wise.
Pancho
P.S. "There's prayer, and a step up from that is meditation, and a step up from that is 'sohbet', or conversation. Who is talking to HU! (The pronoun for the breathing Divine Presence.) Lover to beloved, teacher to disciple. The Friendship of Rumi and Shams became a continuous conversation, in silence and words, presence talking to absence, existence to non-existence, periphery to center. Rumi's poetry may be heard as eavesdropping on that exchange."
On Mar 21, 2011 Pancho wrote :
My family calls me Pancho and I'd like you to know that I love you all.
Like This
by Rumi
If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say,
Like this.
When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,
Like this?
If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,
or what "God's fragrance" means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.
Like this.
When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.
Like this?
If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,
don't try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips.
Like this. Like this.
When someone asks what it means
to "die for love," point
here.
If someone asks how tall I am, frown
and measure with your fingers the space
between the creases on your forehead.
This tall.
The soul sometimes leaves the body, then returns.
When someone doesn't believe that,
walk back into my house.
Like this.
When lovers moan,
they're telling our story.
Like this.
I am a sky where spirits live.
Stare into this deepening blue,
while the breeze says a secret.
Like this.
When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand.
Like this.
How did Joseph's scent come to Jacob?
Huuuu.
How did Jacob's sight return?
Huuuuu.
A little wind cleans the eyes.
Like this.
When Shams comes back from Tabriz,
he'll put just his head around the edge
of the door to surprise us.
Like this.