I had a really hard time choosing a poem for today. Most of the other days were no problem: I have such a store of poetry that I love that I could sit down, type something up and be done with it. But now that it’s April 29 and we only have one more day of National Poetry Month (and I already know which poem I’m going to share), I felt a lot of pressure to pick a good one, one that was maybe a little different from the others.
With a few exceptions, I’ve shared mostly modern/semi modern U.S. poets this month. I think that it makes sense; after all, I am from the U.S. But I don’t just read poets from my same country and I tried to incorporate some variety. The whole reason I wanted to share poems this month was to show the breadth of poetry and how everyone should be able to find at least one poem that speaks to them, that helps them in times of crisis or of joy. So I do wish I had done better on the diversity-of-poets’-nationalities-front – something to aspire to for next year I suppose. In any case, today I knew I wanted to share a poem written outside of the States. I finally settled on the below poem by Rumi. It seems a crime that I hadn’t shared one of his poems before today since he is arguably one of the most famous and most quoted poets of all time. I think I was just waiting for the right poem; this one I just discovered this month but I’m already treasuring it. Plus, it talks of a kind of variety, diversity, in the human experience.
The Guest House
By Rumi
Translated by Coleman Barks
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
A Semi Nomadic Kind of Life 