Language

To speak the same language is to share the same blood, to be related
To live with strangers is the life of captivity
Many are Hindus and Turks who share the same language
Many are Turks who may be alien to one another
The language of companionship is a unique one
To reach someone through the heart is other than reaching them
through words.
Besides words, allusions and arguments
The heart knows a hundred thousand ways to speak

As translated from Discourses of Rumi by Fatemeh Keshavarz

This poem was originally read by Fatemeh Keshavarz in the On Being episode “The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi.”

Reflections