Heart Donkey
Two donkey poems inspired by Rumi
Heart Donkey If the heart were an animal certainly it would be that stubborn, large faced servant with its antenna ears and a loyalty so determined to pulse each hoof forward, one in front of the other, carrying the weight of your life, out to the field, I imagine, where it may finally kneel in that grass, and having no ambition left, roll in its brayerful of delight, its begging eyes full of that sweet, delicious darkness. - Moudi Sbeity ___________________________________ Take Me There You live where Shams lives, because your heart-donkey was strong enough to take you there - Rumi, "You Sweep The Floor" Here is a tugging sort of feeling, pulled, as it were, by the words themselves — heart donkey. A steady persistence, a hauled hope, an unwavering burden patiently pressing us one hoof after another towards the final horizon. And what if you knew that shams is Arabic for sun? That Shams is (depending on who you talk to, but since I have the floor here) Rumi’s lover. He who birthed his full poetic expression, the robed light he prayed for, the divine bright mystery. Rumi’s heart donkey, this gloomy-eyed Eeyore yearning for the sun, is taking him there, to the field out beyond, to the garden of mystic lovers, to the place where the only possibility is God loving us without distinction. What else can I do but open my mouth in agreement? What else but bray that my heart too may be strong enough to take me there. - Moudi Sbeity
You Sweep The Floor by Rumi (Coleman Barks translation) is one of my favorite Rumi poems. I write about this poem in my memoir (coming out this Oct, pre-orders here, cover reveal soon) in the context of a trip to Disney World when I was ten, traveling alone from Lebanon, and dealing with the now foreign mannerisms of my aunts. I weave this with the Little Mermaid, and a discussion on imagination and gender expression outside of the bounds of right and wrong. These two poems are distilled and inspired from that chapter. The phrase alone - heart donkey - has a tender feeling. I keep returning to it, to this heart, with its loyalty, its stubborn beauty, its intelligent ache.
Some lines and ideas in the second poem are from the poem Love’s Excess in “The Essential Rumi.” Namely, garden of mystic lovers, and God loving us without distinction.
I read the Heart Donkey poem on my most recent episode of All the Grief. Podcast links and more info here
How delightful Moudi. I've never really considered donkeys much, though I loved Eeyore as a child, but you have given me a new appreciation :) I listened to All the Grief yesterday - grief and gratitude, they really are inseparable aren't they.
Utterly delightful pair of poems. So glad you have the floor! :)