Oh the pleasure, the happiness,
the delight, the joy, the bliss,
of doing just one thing above all!
When I was a child, I did many things;
that’s right for children – there’s the world,
go play in it; ask, what’s a horizon? but what
lies beyond? and why can’t I see angels
if angels can see me? …
When I was a young man, I did many things;
that’s right for young men – which one will I love?
which one will love me? And when we’ve together found our love,
oh what then? and oh what then?
But now I’m older, there seems less time
for many things; they will look after themselves
without my help… so, what delight
to give oneself to just one thing…
one thing at a time; and then
one thing…
and it seems, it doesn’t matter what;
roses need an expert to collaborate
in dreaming up new beauty from an older stock;
dogs need exercise, and a two-legs to look up to;
grandchildren are born to love grandparents
in a special way..
and, duties done, and hearts served well,
one thing…it might be poetry,
in which to say, look, all this
I’ve received: here’s recognition,
acknowledgement, and gratitude…
and the other things, like sleeping, eating,
become day by day like living in someone else’s poem;
someone else committed to one thing…
and then one day, perhaps,
life’s curtain twitches; and some great being
looks in the window, the very moment you look out;
and ‘one thing’, in the most natural way,
becomes…
Michael Shepherd
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-the-spirit-of-rumi-50-one-thing/
