The Jar with the Dry Rim


The mind is an ocean... I and so many worlds
are rolling there, mysterious, dimly seen!
And our bodies? Our body is a cup, floating
on the ocean; soon it will fill, and sink...
Not one bubble will show where it went
down.
The spirit is so near that you can't see it!
But reach for it... don't be a jar
full of water, whose rim is always dry.
Don't be the rider who gallops all night
and never sees the horse that is beneath him.

- Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273)