Run for Your Life
You have won the first big battle –
to waken long before dawn.
Don’t fall back to sleep.
Not now, when you are so close.
Quick. Get up!
Don’t stay under the covers.
Don’t get seduced yet again.
You’ve fallen into the arms of sleep
so many nights before,
and in the morning you always wake up
feeling the same old way,
lonely, sorry and ashamed.
Quick. Get up!
Storm the secret gate above your eyes.
Tear away the veil of shadows and sorrows
that cloaks the radiant bliss of your being.
Sail in the ship of Nam across the sea of stars,
to that distant shore, deep within,
where your Beloved waits for you.
Quick. Get up!
Stay awake, this night.
Later, you can sleep all day.
But don’t lose love’s jewel
shining in the stillness of this night.
Listen! Your Beloved is calling your name.
Run toward his Voice. Run for your life.