Newly Commissioned Work, "The Puzzle of the Universe"

21" x 24"

SOLD

The words of one of my favorite poets, Rumi, have the power of universality.  He lived and wrote in the 13th century of the Persian Empire yet his words speak to me so poignantly. All sacred art is like that. 

I love this translation of Rumi by poet Robert Bly:

Night and Sleep

At the time of night prayer as the sun slides down,
the route the senses walk on closes, and the route to the invisible opens.

The angel of sleep then gathers and drives along the spirits,
just as the mountain keeper gathers his sheep on the slope.

And what amazing sights he offers to the descending sheep.
Cities with sparkling streets, hyacinth gardens, emerald pastures.

The spirit sees astounding beings, turtles turned to men,
men turned to angels, when sleep erases the banal.

I think one could say the spirit goes back to its old home;
it no longer remembers where it lives, it loses its fatigue.

It carries around in life so many griefs and loads
and trembles under their weight. But in sleep they are all gone. All is well.