The Mathnawi, pictured above in a museum in Konya, Turkey, was Rumi's magnum opus, a series of six books of poetry that amount to about 25,000 verses, or 50,000 lines. This is a central theological work for Sufis, yet it is better understood as poetry that illuminates the mystical union of human and divine reality.  The theologian, the Shaik Ibn 'Arabi, used another form of poetic discourse to explore the inner mystery
of God, which remains impenetrable.


I want to explore these mysteries further in poetry.

  where on the Decatur Earth is my pole star, 

where is the axis mundi we all form the

circle dance around?

where is the wine glass that

can never be empty?

where is the Lover we

will never abandon,

who will never abandon us?