the circle around the zero (j. rumi)
a lover doesn’t figure the odds.
he figures he came clean from god
as a gift without a reason,
so he gives without cause
or calculation or limit.
a conventionally religious person
behaves a certain way
to achieve salvation.
a lover gambles everything, the self,
the circle around the zero! he or she
cuts and throws it all away.
this is beyond
any religion.
lovers do not require from god any proof,
or any text, nor do they knock on a door
to make sure this is the right street.
they run,
and they run.
—
i came across this one hidden in an old folder of an old email account, buried deep in an electronic grave. it was sent to me by someone i once loved after we parted ways. although intangible at the time, i see now that this poem captures, with haunting eloquence, the exact reason that i said goodbye all those years ago.
