Think of Noah

Think of Noah                                                                                         

Start your own project, Rumi advised. 

As absurd as Noah laboring daily

in the sandy shade of the ship’s hulk,

not a drop to show for all his devotion,

his lofty pronouncements and endeavors.

His self-opposition far harder to ignore

than the public’s derision, those habitual lapses

of faith and resolve – empty, arid days,

nights of isolation and confusion,

seductive arguments for capitulation and abandonment.

And doubt!  Would it not all come down

to a great dusty naught?  Start your own project,

Rumi advised, constructed daily –

the ribs of an inward, sturdy vessel

contrary to your own and all apparent

worldly reason, wisdom and evidence.

O child of God, whenever you distrust

your inner God-directed duties, think of Noah.