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