One night while I was hanging out over at R’s, I picked up a book of Rumi’s poetry. I had not previously been familiar with his work (I don’t know much about poetry–I was always more of a prose reader/writer–but I’m trying to learn), but I found myself so moved by this particular piece that I had to get my notebook and scribble down the title and look it up later.

Looking for your face

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it.

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for.

Today I have found you
and those that laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did.

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you with a hundred eyes.

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold.

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine.

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow.

My soul is screaming in ecstasy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your effulgence
has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant
for me
the earth and sky.

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer.

Ahh…breathtaking, isn’t it?

R and I attended a reading at Rust Belt Books Sunday night. A good friend of R’s was the scheduled reader, and I was utterly enthralled by her work. It was one of those, “wow…I wish I could do that” kind of moments. 🙂 I’ve been feelingso inspired lately. I want to read more, learn more, write more. I want to finish my NaNovel. I want to write that screenplay my friend Anita asked me about. I want to see films I haven’t seen, read books I haven’t read…

I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs this past year. I approached the great milestone birthday with trepidation, but it seems that it has brought me to a place of balance, of contentment, of confidence and security that I haven’t previously known. There are many, many reasons for this, I think, but I believe it has at least a little something to do with this wonderful, amazing man who has so quickly become such an important part of my life.

And for that, I say thank you.