Children Running Through
I used to be shy.
You made me sing.
You made me sing.
I used to refuse things at table.
Now I shout for more wine.
Now I shout for more wine.
In somber dignity, I used to sit
on my mat and pray.
on my mat and pray.
Now children run through
and make faces at me.
and make faces at me.
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My thoughts:
In my experience, a key pillar of Sufism is the concept of Love for Godliness (God). This is different from other relationships with God – fear of God, God as giver (transactional view), God as someone to be revered…I think that Rumi is celebrating that philosophy in this poem. When he talks about a transformation from shyness to singing, he seems to be describing ‘deewanee’.
When he talks about refusing things at the table, he seems to be referring to a life led from his frontal lobe (his rational mind).
When he refers to ‘shouting for more wine’, it’s a way to express his yearning to be ‘drunk’ with the love for God. The ‘somber dignity’ on the prayer mat is a reference to reverence.
It’s in the final couplet that he really drives the point home. By being lost in the love for God, he seems to be behaving like a madman…someone whose actions can’t be understood by the logical, rational mind of others. Children who are representative of purity and innocence don’t see him as adult – logical / rational. They play with him, treat him as one of their own.
