Word Without Words

(After Rumi)

Word beyond words

how you cradle my mind

how you coddle my will

nurturing it to choose

the narrow gate a muddy stile

on the edge of a pasture

how you point to the straitened path

how you paint the face of idylls

Word without words

I listen to your mellifluous voice

I hasten to match its notes

with a classical guitar from Spain

I hurry to catch the sound

force it to redound in these hills

what you sing cannot be transcribed

what you play on the wind eludes capture

Word before words

all things are because of your song

its melody a bright current in my sea of emotions

my thin field of dreams sprawls dotted

with wildflowers dappled by the sun

your voice soothes the way of renewal

I will follow it because it lures me like a lover

it toys with my ecstasy of union evermore