Two Kinds of Shouting
When you decide to sincerely follow the path,
that’s when the Devil begins shouting in your mind.
“Don’t go that way, naive one!
That way is suffering and poverty.
There is no food or love on that road.
Think of your friends back home.
Everyone will hate you.
You’ll be sorry.”
So you say,
“I’ll follow God tomorrow.
Or possibly the day after.
There’s still time.”
O noble wanderer,
The shout of the devil
is the shepherd of the miserable.
While the shouting of the Beloved
protects travelers on the Way.
These two voices
cannot be followed at once,
as a drop of the sea of sweetwater
can never mix with a drop of the sea of salt.
~Rumi (version by Chris Jansen)