STORY WATER

by Rumi

translated by Coleman Barks

A story is like water

that you heat for your bath.

It takes messages between the fire

and your skin. It lets them meet

and it cleans you!

Very few can sit down

in the middle of the fire itself

like a salamander or Abraham

We need intermediaries.

A feeling of fullness comes,

but usually it takes some bread

to bring it.

Beauty surrounds us,

but usually we need to be walking

in a garden to know it.

The body itself is a screen

to shield and partially reveal

the light that is blazing

inside your presence.

Water, stories, the body,

all the things we do, are mediums

that hide and show what's hidden.

Study them,

and enjoy this being washed

with a secret we sometimes know,

and then not.