The Guest House 

- RUMI

This being human is a guest house

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a means,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor

Welcome and entertain them all

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty if its furniture.

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you 

out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

Say I Am You: Poetry Interspersed with Stories of Rumi and Shams, Translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks, Maypop, 1994