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The Moon of Your Love by Muhammad Shirin Maghribi (1349 - 1406) Timeline English version by David & Sabrineh Fideler Muslim / Sufi 14th Century Not a single soul lacks a pathway to you. There's no stone, no flower -- not a single piece of straw -- lacking your existence. In every particle of the world, the moon of your love causes the heart of each atom to glow.     -- from Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition, Translated by David Fideler / Translated by Sabrineh Fideler Amazon.com   / Photo by alicepopkorn /	Themes   Garden   Heart   Lotus   Lover and Beloved   Moon Recommended Books A Critical Edition of the Divan of Muhammad Shirin Maghribi, by Leonard Lewisohn Islamic Mystical Poetry: Sufi Verse from the Early Mystics to Rumi, Translated by Mahmood Jamal Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition, Translated by David Fideler / Translated by Sabrineh Fideler
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

I just discovered this poem this morning, and instantly fell in love with it.

Not a single soul lacks
a pathway to you.

This simple statement is so profoundly healing to the questing human heart.

In a world that places so many demands upon us, in which we pile up our own countless goals and deadlines, it becomes all too easy to feel lost and separated from the Divine. But it is never so...

There's no stone,
no flower --
not a single piece of straw --
lacking your existence.

The pathway is simply and entirely to recognize the divine existence already present within.

We imagine Herculean efforts are required, isolation, smothering asceticism, travels to exotic lands. We forget that the holiest place we can discover is immediately behind the breastbone.

Every effort, in the end, is to reach exhaustion, until we are finally too tired to continue telling ourselves stories about our lives. Finally, finally we fall silent. Finally, we witness ourselves as we are.

What we discover leaves us speechless.

In every particle of the world,
the moon of your love
causes the heart
of each atom to glow.

Every effort, the entire pathway, leads to precisely one step: a step out of the way. That's when real opening occurs, and it is effortless. The love and light already present blossom within the heart. And every atom, all the universe, is lit up with us.

(You think I'm just spinning a pretty story, don't you?)

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.