Story Water

A story is like water

that you heat for your bath.

.

It takes messages between the fire

and your skin. It lets them meet,

and it cleans you!

Very few can sit down

in the middle of the fire itself

like a salamander or Abraham.

We need intermediaries.

.

A feeling of fullness comes,

but usually it takes some bread

to bring it.

.

Beauty surrounds us,

but usually we need to be walking

in a garden to know it.

.

The body itself is a screen

to shield and partially reveal

the light that’s blazing

inside your presence.

.

Water, stories, the body,

all the things we do, are mediums

that hide and show what’s hidden.

.

Study them,

and enjoy this being washed

with a secret we sometimes know,

and then not.

– Jalal al-Din Rumi in The Essential Rumi – reissue: New Expanded Edition (Coleman Barks – Author, Translator)