Ray Rasmussen

Dear Rumi

You write “This being human is a guest house,” that “some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor,” that “every morning there’s a new arrival: a joy, a depression, a meanness . . .”

You suggest that I “Welcome and entertain them all,” that I view each new visitor as “a guide from beyond,” that they may be “clearing me out for some new delight.”

But as I read the news from one source and then another, I’m at a loss as to how to welcome these ongoing cycles of covid variants, the deaths and illnesses, the drug epidemic, the havoc caused by (ignoring) climate change, the dominance of greed, the endless squabbling and inaction of political leaders, the growing loss of faith in democratic institutions, the renewal of war in Europe, and the way covid prevents friends and family from visiting.

Oh Rumi . . . I thought of trying to meet these insistent visitors “at the door laughing” as you suggest, but the best I could do was to part the curtains to peek out.  And, as you can see, the visitors peeked in at me, “a crowd of sorrows,” . . . all but you.

rainbow—
somewhere
a wizard

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Note: Rumi’s poem, “The Guest House,” can be read here: Rumi The Guest House

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About the Author

Ray Rasmussen has served as an editor for a variety of haibun journals. His haibun, haiga and haiku have been published in numerous journals and in several anthologies. He lives with his partner, Nancy, in a cottage on a mixed hardwood Ontario forest acreage. Together they enjoy writing, fabric arts, photography, bicycling, canoeing, and hiking.

After 25+ years immersed in haibun, his thoughts about haibun and some of his work appear in his: All Things Haibun Blog.