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| Dervish at Ya Havlevi Mevlana in Istanbul |
Always turning, and turning, and turning again!
Turning to see the very one who touched him,
At a crowded crossroads, hope and despair;
Turning his finger through the city's soil,
A strangely quiet sacrament in the street,
Defying violence and turning away those who menace.
The one who saves his life, he said,
The one who defends it and protects it sadly:
This is the one who loses life and everything with it.
Jesus, a dervish of a sort!
The one who loses life, he said,
The one who turns and turns in the circle,
The one who turns losing into living
And dying into loving:
This is the one who saves life and is born again,
And even again and again.
So tonight I watch eleven young dervishes,
And I remember Jesus: his turning, his losing,
His passing from life into life.
I remember Jesus and Mohammed and all the prophets,
As an old Muslim mystic sweetly sings from his Qu'ran:
"Unto God belongs the East and the West,
And whither ever ye turn, you are faced with Him.
He is All-Embracing, All-Knowing."
A video of my night with the dervishes can be seen here!
29 May 2014
Istanbul
