It is time to start the journey, we have seen enough of this world, it is time to see another These two gardens may be beautiful, but let us pass beyond them and go to the gardener. Let us kiss the ground and flow like a river towards the ocean. Let us go from this valley of tears. Let us bring the color of blossom to our pale faces. Our hearts shiver like autumn leaves about to fall. In this world of dust, there is no avoiding pain or feeling exiled. Let us become like beautifully colored birds and fly to the sweet land of paradise. Everything is painted with the brush of the invisible one, let us follow the hidden signs and find the painter. It is best to travel with companions, on this perilous journey. We are like rain splashing on a road, let us find our way down the spout. We are like an arched bow with the arrow in place, let us become straight and release the arrow towards the target. Let us begin the journey home. ~ Rumi

It is time to start the journey, we have seen enough of this world, it is time to see another These two gardens may be beautiful, but let us pass beyond them and go to the gardener. Let us kiss the ground and flow like a river towards the ocean. Let us go from this valley of tears. Let us bring the color of blossom to our pale faces. Our hearts shiver like autumn leaves about to fall. In this world of dust, there is no avoiding pain or feeling exiled. Let us become like beautifully colored birds and fly to the sweet land of paradise. Everything is painted with the brush of the invisible one, let us follow the hidden signs and find the painter. It is best to travel with companions, on this perilous journey. We are like rain splashing on a road, let us find our way down the spout. We are like an arched bow with the arrow in place, let us become straight and release the arrow towards the target. Let us begin the journey home.  ~ Rumi

Art by Ashraf Moulfarha

We have not come here to take prisoners But to surrender ever more deeply To freedom and joy. We have not come into this exquisite world to hold ourselves hostage from love. Run my dear, From anything That may not strengthen Your precious budding wings, Run like hell, my dear, From anyone likely to put a sharp knife Into the sacred, tender vision Of your beautiful heart. We have a duty to befriend Those aspects of obedience of our house And shout to our reason “Oh please, oh please come out and play.” For we have not come here to take prisoners, Or to confine our wondrous spirits But to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom, and Light! ~Hafiz

Art by Amanda Cass

We are weaving a new way, Stitching revolutions together, Spinning new worlds from our Wombs, Dreaming back the wild edges of our Souls, Calling forth that what has been lost. We are women of the Womb, Maddened by love into action, We are men of the heart, Softened into surrender, Afraid only of not feeling. We are thinking in a web, Your thread holds mine together. We are taleweavers and troubadours, Telling the words that were broken, Singing the songs of longing. We are weaving a new way, Using the thread of pain, Spinning it back into gold. ~ Seren Swannesha Bertrand

We are weaving a new way, Stitching revolutions together, Spinning new worlds from our Wombs, Dreaming back the wild edges of our Souls, Calling forth that what has been lost. We are women of the Womb, Maddened by love into action, We are men of the heart, Softened into surrender, Afraid only of not feeling. We are thinking in a web, Your thread holds mine together. We are taleweavers and troubadours, Telling the words that were broken, Singing the songs of longing. We are weaving a new way, Using the thread of pain, Spinning it back into gold.  ~ Seren Swannesha Bertrand

Art by Quint Buchholz

“Let us fall in love again and scatter gold dust all over the world. Let us become a new spring and feel the breeze drift in heaven’s scent. Let us dress the earth in green and like the sap of a young tree let the grace from within us sustain us. Let us carve gems out of our stony hearts and let them light our path to Love. The glance of Love is crystal clear and we are blessed by its light.” ~Rumi

Art by Rio Bagoes Nugroho

I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit. ~ Fully Alive by Dawna Markova

I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.  ~ Fully Alive by Dawna Markova

Art by Christian Schloe

We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. World-losers and world-forsakers, Upon whom the pale moon gleams; Yet we are the movers and shakers, Of the world forever, it seems.

We are the music-makers,  And we are the dreamers of dreams,  Wandering by lone sea-breakers,  And sitting by desolate streams.  World-losers and world-forsakers,  Upon whom the pale moon gleams;  Yet we are the movers and shakers,  Of the world forever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world’s great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire’s glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song’s measure
Can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

~Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy

The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski

The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.