from 'A Thirsty Fish' by Rumi

I don't want learning, or dignity,
or respectability.

I want this music and this dawn
and the warmth of your cheek against mine.

The grief-armies assemble,
but I'm not going with them.

This is how it always is
when I finish a poem.

A great silence comes over me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.

(translated by Coleman Barks, from The Essential Rumi published by HarperCollins)