blossoming forth

Came spring, and the garden made me blossom

And bloomed itself, displayed at my demand.

When it handed me luck's cup and poured it deep,

I laid my head down, drunk, and fell asleep.

#1172: From Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi

Search words: explode, burst, bud, blossom

There has been an explosion of new activity of late, both for my son and for myself. (Only the cat seems to be staying calm.) It frightens me. I worry that I'll stress out and lose myself. I've tapped into a similar mood here in Rumi, apparently prompted by a change of season. Actually, spring is indeed in the air here. There are shrubs in my own garden that produce abundant pink flowers in the spring and yesterday I noticed a first pair of pink flowers. Winter, and the hard times, are drawing to a close.

The danger is well expressed here by Rumi. Good fortune can go to one's head. It can intoxicate us much like a cup of wine does. We become unconscious, no longer aware or mindful of one's daily and moment-by-moment needs. I'm so thankful I've developed this routine of communing with Rumi. It gives me a mainstay, a point to which I can return if things start to feel like too much.

This is the first verse I've encountered in which Rumi is describing his own fall from consciousness, his own error in falling asleep. He depicts it as the result of a springtime of the soul and it doesn't sound sinful or wrong at all. It sounds like it's as natural as the return of the seasons. Rumi's is such a gentle non-judgmental soul and where else to apply that but to oneself? To forgive, and to understand, oneself is the first step to forgiving and understanding others.

I'm left with a mood of resignation. The explosion probably will result in some drunkenness (possibly literal but certainly metaphoric) and that's OK. The full fruits of summer will follow on as naturally as spring came along in the first place. The seasons will roll round eternally.