More Rumi

SICK OF SCRIPTURE

My head turns around my feet,
one of which is fixed to the ground

like a compass, mad
with the wandering moon and slow-

burning with Mars. Bored, ashamed,
floating in a gold sky, in deep

ecstasy, all secrets told, the son
of a lion is out looking for heart-

blood to drink. You think I’m sick,
so you read the first sura, but

scripture is what I’m sick of.
When Hallaj spoke his truth, they

crucified him for the words. If
Hallaj were here, he’d point them to

me. Unlike this teacher here who
will not bow, I don’t wash corpses

or carve markings on stone. The
universe itself recognizes Shams

Tabriz, but not you. I am tired
of being around such blindess.

Note: Hallaj was the Sufi crucified for his message that God was available to all equally, with or without Muslim law. Shams Tabriz was a Sufi poet, student, and love [in the Platonic sense, probably] of Rumi’s who was “disappeared” suddenly under circumstances no one knows.

Rumi's disregard for the Koran over against personal love and relationships is apparent.