reframe

The next sunrise shall find me in a plane headed to Cairo. Two years after the memorable Holiday of Justice- Brodie, Tom and I are again convening in Egypt. Since our last trip, Brodie has been PAI, trained at a Zen monastery and now McKinzies eagerly awaits his arrival. Gara has transcended us all; after AI he returned to his Cairo as a full-blown, real world journalist writing for a Middle Eastern news magazine of high repute.

With me I shall bring two others who I’ve recently grown fond of- the Sufi poets Rumi and Hafez. I can imagine no finer backdrop by which to read their masterful expressions than the open desert sky.

Rumi is a 13th century Sufi poet- an Tajik-Persian author who has been very influential and popular in and out of the Islamic world. The poem I posted yesterday is a great example of the form; a beautifully emotive and revealing expression of the human struggle with a zen-like brevity. Hafez was a recent surprise to me. On Friday I was given The Gift by a bookmaster at a wonderful store here in Amsterdam. “The Gift” is a collection (a divan) of Hafez’s poetry that has been completely enthralling me over the past week. From the first poem that I opened randomly in the store I was awestruck. These are the words of a 14th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic.

The bookmaster spoke to me of savouring Hafez; of supping upon each poem, gnawing upon it’s bones and sucking the very marrow of it’s spirit, delighting in each sweet whisper.. and laugh… and gentle nod. The Gift was bound and offered, I bowed and took it with both hands in full gratitude.

Much of life is spent thinking back happily upon experiences like that which will unfold over the next six days. I cannot imagine any four greater souls to be journeying with. Such brothers in whom I constantly finding and losing the thousand fragments of my self.