A Poem by Rumi

LOOKING FOR YOUR FACE

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden

You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstacy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your efflugence
has lit a fire in my heart
for me
the earth and sky

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer.

~ Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi (Rūmī) ~


This poem truly resonates for me because, when I did see his face for the very first time, when we were finally so close I could feel his breath on my neck and the whisper of his eyelashes on my cheek, I did realise that I had been looking for his face all my life. And he does have, such a beautiful face. Finally, there he was, before me. All I could manage to utter was, "It's you."

Since that day, our love has taken us places in the heart and mind, which neither of us even knew existed. And it will take us still, to so many places yet to come. Our love knows no bounds. Our love is our future.

He lights a fire in my heart.