The art of music

” No one knows what makes the soul wake
up so happy! maybe a dawn breeze has

blown the veil from the face of God.
A thousands new moons appear. Roses

open laughing, Hearts become
perfect rubies like those from Badakshan. The

body turns entirely spirit. Leaves
become branches in this wind. Why is

it now so easy to surrender, even for
those already surrendered? There’s no

answer to any of this. No one knows
the source of joy. A poet breathes

into a reed flute, and the tip of
every hair makes music. Shams sails

down clods of dirt from the roof, and
we take jobs as doorkeepers for him.”

—–Rumi; translated by Coleman Barks
from Dancing With Joy

photo by Barbara Mattio
copyrighted 2013

Whirling dervishes of light