All Of Me
In the predawn hours I woke with words flowing
and began to write the following....
It is a prayer
and began to write the following....
It is a prayer
I want to walk with You
all the days of my life,
what remains of the hours
I want to devote
to following in Your footsteps
closely united
near
never wandering off
never doing my own thing.
all the days of my life,
what remains of the hours
I want to devote
to following in Your footsteps
closely united
near
never wandering off
never doing my own thing.
I want the freedom of living
in Your care,
the boundary of this pleasant place
enabling me to run, to dance,
to play, to grieve
as each blessing and trial comes
straight from Your gracious heart.
in Your care,
the boundary of this pleasant place
enabling me to run, to dance,
to play, to grieve
as each blessing and trial comes
straight from Your gracious heart.
I want to be all that You
made me to be,
to faithfully do
all that You are growing me to do
to think Your thoughts after You
to be led by Your Spirit
in my inner being,
so that all my ways
might be Your ways.
made me to be,
to faithfully do
all that You are growing me to do
to think Your thoughts after You
to be led by Your Spirit
in my inner being,
so that all my ways
might be Your ways.
I want all of me
to be all of Yours,
no parts belonging to another
without being Yours also,
first in my heart,
first in my song,
You are the one to teach me to dance,
to spin, to weave around.
to be all of Yours,
no parts belonging to another
without being Yours also,
first in my heart,
first in my song,
You are the one to teach me to dance,
to spin, to weave around.
Dervish Dance -- Rodi Khalil
The Mevlevilik is a Sufi order in Konya, Turkey, founded by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, theologian, and mystic. They are popularly known as the "whirling Dervishes" due to their rhythmic whirling as a form of dhikr (remembrance of God). "Dervish" is a common term for a Sufi initiate; the Persian "darvish" means "door," so "dervish" has been interpreted as "one who goes from door to door." It is probably derived from "drigu-" (needy, mendicant), a term from the Avestan language (known only from the Zoroastrian scriptures); in the "Bundahishn" ("Primal Creation," an encyclopediaic collection of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology written in Pahlavi) it means "someone who goes from door to door and sings, gets money, and wakes the people." The whirling is part of the formal Sama ("listening") ceremony and the participants are properly known as semazen-s. The rituals may includes singing, playing instruments, dancing, recitation of poetry and prayers, wearing symbolic attire, or other rituals. Participants move as a group in a circle while also turning individually. The order and the practice both originated when Rumi heard the rhythmic hammering of the goldbeaters as "la ilaha ilallah" (There is no god but Allah) and became so entranced in happiness that he stretched out his arms and started spinning.
ReplyDeleteIn 1931 Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons wrote "All of me," probably without intending any reference to Sufism:
ReplyDeleteAll of me
Why not take all of me
Can't you see I'm no good without you
Take my lips I want to lose them
Take my arms I'll never use them
Your goodbye left me with eyes that cry
How can I go on dear, without you
You took the part that once was my heart
So why not take all of me
But it's Sufistic in a nutshell thanks to you dear editor Duane Vorhees. a gorgeous poem - right up my spiritual alley.
ReplyDelete