I wonder

By Jalaluddin Rumi

       I wonder
from these thousand of "me's",
            which one am I?
                 Listen to my cry, do not drown my voice
            I am completely filled with the thought of you.
                      Don't lay broken glass on my path
       I will crush it into dust.
         I am nothing, just a mirror in the palm of your hand,
           reflecting your kindness, your sadness, your anger.
             If you were a blade of grass or a tiny flower
                 I will pitch my tent in your shadow.
           Only your presence revives my withered heart.
            You are the candle that lights the whole world
                  and I am an empty vessel for your light.

By Jalaluddin Rumi, translated by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi in Rumi: Hidden Music, Maryam Mafi & Azima Melita Kolin, tr. (Harper/Element, 2009)

Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

© Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi, 2009