Two Sufi Poems & Psalm 16

Golden Compass 1

Forget every idea of right and wrong
Any classroom has ever taught you

Because
An empty heart, a tormented mind,
Unkindness, jealousy and fear

Are always the testimony
That you have been completely fooled!

Turn your back on those
Who would imprison your wondrous spirit
With deceit and lies.

Come, join the honest company
Of the King's beggars--
Those gamblers, scoundrels and divine clowns
And those astonishing fair courtesans
Who need Divine Love every night.

Come, join the courageous
Who have no choice
But to bet their entire world
That indeed,
Indeed, God is Real.

I will lead you into the Circle,
Of the Beloved's cunning thieves,
Those playful rogues--
The ones you can trust for true guidance--
Who can aid you
In this Blessed Calamity of life.

Look at the Perfect One
At the Circle's Center:

He Spins and Whirls like a Golden Compass,
Beyond all that is rational,

To show this dear world

That everything,
Everything in Existence
Does point to God.

Keeping Watch 1

In the morning
When I began to wake,
It happened again--

That feeling
That You, Lord,
Beloved,
Had stood over me all night
Keeping watch,

That feeling
That as soon as I began to stir

You put Your lips on my forehead
And lit a Holy Lamp
Inside my heart.

Psalm 16
(excerpted)

I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You."

The Lord is my portion, my inheritance, my cup;
He provides for me always.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed it is all beautiful to me.

I will bless the Lord who counsels me;
Indeed, He instructs me even in the night.
I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart is glad and rejoices...

The Lord makes known to me the path of life;
In His presence is the fulness of joy...

1 From I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy, interpretive renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky.