Anyone who lives close to the world of animals and nature knows that Bambi-style romantic idealism is not very real. Indeed, the pecking order can get pretty brutal. The chicken on the ground in the photo above can't walk because the other chickens, noticing a weakness, almost killed it. However, one of its sisters began to stand guard and protect it. When the folks at the Fortaleza community (in Capixaba AC, Brazil) noticed what was happening, a special pen was built for the two -- well protected from animals on-the-hunt but open at he top so that the healthy one would be free to leave. Months later, she has chosen not to use her wings to soar to freedom but to remain at her crippled companion's side.
The perfectly fitting poem arrived today from Panhala:
Not With Wings
Here soar
Not with wings,
But with your moving hands and feet
And sweating brows -
Standing by your Beloved's side
Reaching out to comfort this world
With your cup of solace
Drawn from your vast reservoir of Truth.
Here soar
Not with your eyes and senses
That turn their backs
On the earth's sweet stumbling dance
Which needs you.
Here love, O here love,
With your mouth tender and open upon your lover,
And with your heart on duty
To the souls of rivers, children, forest animals,
All the shy feathered ones and laughing, jumping,
Shining fish.
O here, pilgrim,
Love
On this holy battleground of life
Where there are bleeding men
Who are calling for a sacred drink,
A gentle word or touch from man
or God.
Hafiz, why just serve and play with angels?
They are already content.
Brew your knowledge well for men
With aching minds and guts,
And for those wayfarers who have gained
The rare courageous thirsts
That can never be relinquished
Until Union!
Hafiz,
Leave your recipes in golden drums.
Tie those barrels to the backs of camels
Who will keep circumambulating the worlds,
Giving nourishment
To all our tender wondrous spheres.
O here love, O love right here.
Find your happiness, dear wayfarer,
With your beautiful lips and body
So sweetly opened,
Yielding their vital gifts upon
This magnificent
Earth.
~ Hafiz ~
(The Subject Tonight is Love - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
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