candle in the sun

Now that your lover has shown you her face,

Extinguish yourself at her feet, my heart.

Put out the candle that burns in the sun,

And with you dies this sorrow: moan no more.

#1734: From Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi

Search word: lover

I dreamt that a rich but eccentric old prince had asked me out on a date. I woke feeling like I'd newly acquired a lover. What a nice feeling! It is somewhat tempered, however, by a vague recognition that this potential lover is something of a roué, just a bit too used to fleeting love affairs and over-indulgence in good food and wine. It is hard to imagine wanting to extinguish myself at his feet.

Since Rumi mentions a candle burning in the sun, I can but immediately think of the tiny ego confronted by the mighty Higher Self variously imagined as deity. It is the ego that is acutely aware of time and therefore of death. When one's consciousness is focussed on the whole, on the Higher Self, there is no past, no future, no gain, no loss, nothing to moan about, but then ... Nothing to shout about either. If the ego becomes too identified with its little categories, it might need a break, a welcome immersion in the great ocean of being that encompasses the all and the forever.

However, having sipped the wine with my lover and abandoned all thought of the day, still I must respond to the sun's rising and get started with my usual daily activities. Chop wood, carry water. But doing those chores with remembrance of past embraces and while looking forward to more in the future. Being enveloped by my lover's embraces all day long.

Ah! How sweet it is!