With Us

"Even if you're not a seeker,
still, follow us, keep searching with us.
Even if you don't know how
to play and sing,
you'll become like us;
with us you'll start singing and dancing.

Even if you are Qarun, the richest of kings,
when you fall in love,
you'll become a beggar.
Though you are a sultan, like us you'll become a slave.

One candle of this gathering
is worth a hundred candles; it's light is as great.
Either you are alive or dead.
You'll come back to life with us.

Unbind your feet.
Show the rose garden---
start laughing with your whole body,
like a rose, like us.

Put on the mantle for a moment
and see the ones whose hearts are alive.
Then, throw out your satin dress
and cover yourself with a cloak, like us.

When a seed falls into the ground,
it germinates, grows, and becomes a tree:
if you understand these symbols,
you'll follow us, and fall to the ground with us.

God's Shams of Tabriz says
to the heart's bud,
"If your eyes are opened,
you'll see the things worth seeing."

-Rumi

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Goodbye Ireland, Hello U.S.


Ireland was green and cold and lively and homely and everything I thought it would be and more.

In Dublin we stayed with Abby's friend in Ranelagh. It was wonderful to have a warm place and a hot shower and great company. Dublin was... museums with mummified bog people, shopping, tea, coffee, ridiculously expensive but ridiculously delicious foods, boots and pea coats, foggy breath, Guinness, late nights, and taxis.


We rented a car and drove to Belfast where we then made our way to the coast to explore the stony steps of the Giants Causeway....


then we drove to Galway and spent an evening there before heading to the Cliffs of Moher... the wind there is enough to blow you in any direction it pleases - thankfully there were barriers to keep it from sending us into a plummeting death. For the birds it was the opposite - they were shot straight up from the cliffs like fireworks...made of feathers of course.


From Galway we made our way to County Cork were we explored the Blarney castle and did the upside-down back bend to kiss the Blarney Stone (which apparently local boys like to pee on...who wants a kiss?).


In Kilkenny we explored some more modern castles and hung out in local pubs packed with drunk Irish singing and dancing and enjoying their culture to the fullest.


And just before flying out of Dublin we went to the Guinness Factory to enjoy the freshest pint of Guinness I will have ever had (unless, of course, I go back)...

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