Rumi’s “The Breeze at Dawn” reminds us to step into the day, into wakefulness. Wherever we find ourselves, there are opportunities. This is a poem not only about morning, but about any transition, the transition from night to day, life to death. It suggests that the movement is not only going in one direction, but rather that we go “back and forth” between different states. If we get underneath the surface, listen deeply to the secrets of the breeze, and ask for what we really want, a new level of awakening is possible.
The Breeze at Dawn
Rumi translated by Coleman Barks
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
Writing Prompts Inspired by Rumi’s The Breeze at Dawn
*Take the line “The door is round and open” and incorporate it into a piece.
Rumi‘s “The Breeze at Dawn” is full of movement; from the breeze to the people at the threshold, nothing is static in the poem. Rumi composed many of his poems in a state of movement, whirling as a whirling dervish. It’s always powerful to incorporate movement into your writing process.
To read more morning poems, or poems of transition of any kind, come on over to my blog post with 15 great morning poems.
The door is round and open.
There are no corners for cobwebs.
There is no latch to lock.
The world is round and open.
There are no corners.
There is no latch.