One Song

What is praised is one, so the praise is one too,

many jugs being poured

into a huge basin.  All religions, all this singing,

one song.

The differences are just illusion and vanity. Sunlight

looks slightly different

on this wall than it does on that wall and a lot different

on this other one, but

it is still one light.  We have borrowed these clothes, these

time-and-space personalities,

from a light, and when we praise, we're pouring them back in.

                                                                Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

Coleman Barks reading “One Song” on

What Was Said to the Rose   2004

Coleman Barks with Barry & Shelly Phillips

CD available from colemanbarks.com