Carpe Diem #1397 The Journey Into Your Own Depth

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to give you an all new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry. This month (March) is special, because we are exploring the beauty of the poems by Rumi, the Mystical Poet from 13th century Persia. He has written wonderful poems as you all have seen already. His poems are mystical and full of deeper mysteries ... Rumi a wonderful enlightened poet.

For this episode I have chosen a wonderful poem by Rumi, but this time the title is not from the poem itself, it is an interpretation by me, because ... A few hours ago I was watching a TV-show and in that TV-show were a few renown Dutch artists, two of them father and son. The host of the TV-show asked the father the following question: "What would you like to say to your son now he is starting his own musical career?" The answer was as simple as was it beautiful: "Stay close to your heart. Follow your heart and not the commercial path of music. Create music you like and don't let your music be different than your heart".

Isn't that an awesome philosophical answer? Stay close to you heart, create your own path. Isn't that what we all strive for? Isn't that what we try to do if we are creating our poems? Stay close to you heart, find your own style, find a style you like without betrayal of your heart.

Follow Your Heart

Here is the poem for your inspiration, enjoy the read and I hope it will inspire you.

Then Journey Into Yourself:

Oh, if a tree could wander
     and move with foot and wings!
It would not suffer the axe blows
     and not the pain of saws!
For would the sun not wander
     away in every night ?
How could at every morning
     the world be lighted up?
And if the ocean’s water
     would not rise to the sky,
How would the plants be quickened
     by streams and gentle rain?
The drop that left its homeland,
     the sea, and then returned ?
It found an oyster waiting
     and grew into a pearl.
Did Yusaf not leave his father,
     in grief and tears and despair?
Did he not, by such a journey,
     gain kingdom and fortune wide?
Did not the Prophet travel
     to far Medina, friend?
And there he found a new kingdom
     and ruled a hundred lands.
You lack a foot to travel?
     Then journey into yourself!
And like a mine of rubies
     receive the sunbeams? 
Out of yourself ? such a journey
     will lead you to yourself,
It leads to transformation
     of dust into pure gold!

© Rumi

Awesome poem ... full of wonder, full of mystery a real poem by the Mystical Poet Rumi. I think you can find a lot in this poem to become inspired by ... so I am looking forward to your responses.

Here is mine:

fragile wings
pointing the way to transformation -
the summerbreeze

© Chèvrefeuille

And a tanka from my archives. This tanka fits the poem like a glove I think.

lost in the woods
searching for a new path
between ferns
the early light of day
points the way to leave

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I think you can find enough inspiration ... 

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 2nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, another nice poem by Rumi, later on. For now ... have fun!