Winter Solstice

As the world turns inwards for the Winter Solstice, some words of Mevlana to remind us that the pull of love is everywhere…

One cold day a bearskin was floating down the river.
I said to a man who had no clothes,
“Jump in and pull it out.”

But the bearskin was a live bear,
and the man who jumped in so eagerly
was caught in the clutches of what he went to grab.

“Let go of it,” I said, “Fighting won’t get you anywhere.”
“Let go of it? This coat won’t let go of me!”
Silence. Just a hint. Who needs volumes of stories?

[Ghazel, The Pocket Rumi, tr. Kabir Helminski]