a rich mix

The moment you find a companion in joy

Is the moment you find your life's own fate.

Beware that you don't waste that moment in vain:

You will find very few such moments again.

#1849: From Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi

Key word: find

I've made a firm decision that I will complete this set of Houshmand translations, no matter what. Beyond that doesn't matter for now. Today's verse just confirms me in that conviction, to stay with and make the most of a friendship that brings joy. I guess such opportunities can be wasted, as Rumi warns against. Perhaps the importance of the friendship, of the feelings for each other, are denied. In Rumi's case, there may have been a fear of the Islamic disgrace surrounding homosexual relations. There was certainly outside opposition to his close bond with Shams. My guess is that the single most common way of missing or wasting this opportunity to discover one's fate is to see it all as foolish, not sensible or reasonable. It is surely the very quirkiness of the friendship wherein lies the clue.

In this case, the quirkiness lies in relating to a companion with a complexity of realities behind him. Rumi, though long dead, is definitely there. He poured his soul into his poetry and that lives on. However, my exposure to other Rumi translations has made me aware that this companionship includes Zara Houshmand for her own spin on things is subtly infused into these quatrains. And finally, Bob has become a reliable companion reader and commenter, so his living presence also infuses the relationship. I should not forget the last component, my own Inner Beloved, my own Inner Companion who seeks out and directs my gaze at people in the outer landscape, people who resonate with this embodiment of my fate. All this is a good rich mix and I mean to see it through to its end or purpose.