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.