"The Pattern Improves"

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The Pattern Improves

When love itself comes to kiss you,
don't hold back! When the king

goes hunting, the forest smiles.
Now the king has become the place

and all the players, prey, bystander,
bow, arrow, hand and release. How

does that feel? Last night's dream
enters these open eyes. When we die

and turn to dust, each particle will
be the whole. You hear a mote whirl

taking form? My music. Love, calm,
patient. The Friend has waded down

into existence, gotten stuck, and
will not be seen again outside of

this. We sometimes make spiderwebs
of smoke and salvia, fragile thought

packets. Leave thinking to the one
who gave intelligence. In silence

there is eloquence. Stop weaving
and watch how the pattern improves.

-- Ghazal (Ode) 922*
Version by Coleman Barks
"The Soul of Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 2001

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2umyyw

*Sunlight note: This ghazal is incorrectly cited by Barks as 924

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"The Pattern Improves"