Week 10: The Mathnawi
Medium: Mathnawi (Poetry/Word)
Let me begin by telling a tale of sorrow
Between the wind and the pollen of a yarrow
The wind carried the pollen with force and vigor
The pollen, sad not knowing that something bigger
Was in her destiny; all she was concerned for
Was being in comfort and thus her soul was poor
Resisting the wind, demanding that she return
The pollen said it is my flower that I yearn.
The pollen with the brisk wind serving as her guide
Traveled and experienced the world far and wide
She became a part of the wind, one with its grace
She realized then it was with the wind, her place.
One day the wind left her on a tall, fertile knoll.
The pollen was crushed and desperate and her sad soul
Yearned for the day she could be with her Beloved
She became a yarrow so her pollen could spread.
Hoping one day with the wind she could reunite.
Hoping that a part of her could again catch sight
Of the wind, her lover the great omnipresent
In whose presence the pollen is but a peasant
The pollen intoxicated with the sweet wine,
Of a lover’s embrace, the pollen lost her time.
Each flower in a garden cries out in sadness
Its beauty a way to hide its inner madness
When you see pollen in its lover’s grasp floating
Think of the message that the lovers are posing
Leave the incarnate world and what you know behind
Embrace your love, your desire for the Divine.
Lest you lose your chance and your opportunity
To become one with God, to enjoy Unity
This is a story narrated by Mubeen
Who peels nature’s windows and hopes from them to glean
The true nature of the world, to see the unseen.
Explanation
This poem attempts to draw symbolism from traditional mathnawi themes, with a twist based on personal experience (essentially what we experience in contemporary society). The poem consists of rhyming couplets with a set 12 syllables per line, mimicking traditional mathnawi (with the exception of the last stanza which has three lines).
The poem depicts the love of pollen with the wind, and how through the wind she is able to experience the world and all of its majesty. Initially, the pollen was hesitant and did not want to follow the wind, as following the wind was out of her comfort zone. However, through Divine grace, the pollen is gifted with the presence of the wind. This attempts to draw from contemporary experience in that what often the best course of action many do not take because it is not easy. However, once she experiences the world through the wind, she falls in love with it, not wanting to leave it. The wind one day, leaves the pollen, and the pollen experiences the pain of separation from the wind. This is a common theme is mathnawi, and I attempted to depict this by giving an example of nature. This also draws on a lot of the literature that we have discussed in and read for class. Nature is generally seen as being attuned with God, and exists to praise Him. This theme was drawn upon in this work. The imagery of wine is also drawn upon. The pollen becomes intoxicated with the idea of being with the wind, similar to how the Sufi mystics use wine as imagery to show a blind love with the Divine.
The wind was used as a symbol of the Divine because of the association between whirling dervishes and the poetry of Rumi. The whirling dervishes in my mind represent a “dancing” on the wind to come close to God. In that light, I wanted the pollen to “dance” on the wind as a representation of being with the Divine.
Overall, I tried to explain the pain of separation that one has when one is not with the Divine , but also the hesistancy that we experience in contemporary society when we don’t accept our spiritual self. I believe these two ideas reflect the essence of the Mathnawi.