Only Breath- RUMI

 Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th-century mystic poet, was truly one of the most passionate and profound poets in history. 

Today his presence still remains strong, due in part to how his words seem to drip of the divine, and startle a profound remembrance that links all back to the Soul-Essence. 

Born in what is present-day Afghanistan in 1207, he produced his masterwork the Masnawi which consists of over 60,000 poems before he died in 1273.  The best way to fully say in words his impact is that he has the ability to describe the Indescribable, Ineffable-- God.

Only Breath 

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu 

Buddhist, Sufi, or zen.

Not any religion or cultural system.

I am not from the East or the West,
not out of the ocean or up from the ground,
not natural or ethereal, 
not composed of elements at all.
I do not exist,
am not an entity in this world or in the next,

did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. 
My place is placeless, a trace

of the traceless. Neither body nor soul.

I belong to the beloved,

have seen the two  worlds as one 
and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that

breath breathing human being.

  

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu

Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East

or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not

composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or in the next,

did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace

of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two

worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that

breath breathing human being.

From Essential Rumi

by Coleman Barks