Secret Places

Lovers find secret places

inside this violent world

where they make transactions

with beauty.

Reason says, Nonsense.

I have walked and measured the walls here.

There are no places like that.

Love says, There are.

Reason sets up a market

and begins doing business.

Love has more hidden work.

Hallaj steps away from the pulpit

and climbs the stairs of the gallows.

Lovers feel a truth inside themselves

that rational people keep denying.

It is reasonable to say, Surrender

is just an idea that keeps people from leading their lives.

Love responds, No. This thinking

is what is dangerous.

Using language obscures

what Shams came to give.

Every day the sun rises

out of low word-clouds

into burning silence.

(Rumi - Bridge to the Soul)