what is to come or not to come

[HOPE]

Peace to all,



A Small Green Island


There is a small green island where one white cow lives alone,
a meadow of an island.

The cow grazes until nightfall, full and fat,
but during the night she panics and grows thin as a single hair.
"What will I eat tomorrow?
There's nothing left!"

By dawn the grass has grown up again,
waist-high.  The cow starts eating and by dark the meadow is clipped short.

She is full of strength and energy,
but she panics in the dark as before and grows abnormally thin overnight.

The cow does this over and over and this is all she does.

She never thinks,
"This meadow has never failed to grow back. 

What should I be afraid every night that it won't?"

The cow is the bodily soul.
The island field is this world where that grows lean with fear
and fat with blessing,

lean and fat.  White cow,
don't make yourself miserable with what is to come or not to come.

Masnavi Rumi vol, V: 2855-2869

 Version by Coleman Barks