“Love Dogs” by Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Credit: blog.dogbuddy.com

Thirteenth century Persian poet Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi is widely known for his poems of ecstasy, devotion and praise for the great mystery of the human experience. His poem “Love Dogs” speaks of a cry of longing from both the perspective of the caller and the one who is called for. The poem begins with a man calling out for comfort and connection:

One night a man was crying,
“Allah, Allah!”
His lips grew sweet with the praising,
until a cynic said,
“So! I have heard you
calling out, but have you ever
gotten any response?”
The man had no answer for that.
He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.

The confused man then encounters a guide in his dreams, who asks why he stopped praying. The man replies, “because I’ve never heard anything back.” The guide then reveals:

Rumi
(Credit: fractalenlightenment.com)

“This longing you express
is the return message.”
The grief you cry out from
draws you toward union.
Your pure sadness that wants help
is the secret cup.

It is the cry of longing, of grief, which makes space in oneself to receive the wisdom that the capacity one has to reach for love and wholeness is the same capacity one has to cultivate those things. That which we seek already has a seed within us.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.
There are love dogs no one knows the names of.
Give your life to be one of them.

These love dogs are us, in our truest, wildest nature. They are calling out to be held — to be understood, and comforted — with a sense of belonging in the world. They are the ones who praise because they have been uplifted, and they are the ones whose hearts break because they have been loved. Those love dogs among us are singing love songs born from a heart that has been broken open.

And so it must be with us and our broken hearts. To be heartbroken is to be bereaved — literally, “to be torn asunder.” The art and skill of grief, on the other hand, is what we choose to do with what we find at the center of the broken heart. Our relationships define our sense of self — they are the mirror by which we understand ourselves. The cry of the love dogs is released when that mirror is shattered, revealing the jewel of those relationships that still live within us.

Read the full version of Love Dogs and enjoy Coleman Barks reading his own translation in the video below.