Fatimah

“Saat senja datang,
Apakah Bumi yang pergi meninggalkan
Atau Matahari yang mengucapkan selamat tinggal?

Saat purnama tinggi,
Apakah Bumi yang menatap rindu
Atau Rembulan yang menatap kangen?

Saat hujan turun,
Apakah awan yang berlarian tak sabar
Atau Bumi yang menyambut riang?

Entahlah.

Saat dua sahabat lama bertemu
Siapa yang menunggu, siapa yang datang
Jika dua-duanya berpelukan erat

Saat dua musuh berperang
Siapa yang memulai, siapa yang mengakhiri
Jika dua-duanya sama-sama binasa

Pun, saat sebuah hubungan terputus
Siapa yang pergi, siapa yang ditinggal
Jika dua-duanya sama2 terluka

Entahlah.”
― Tere Liye

“Nothing . . . is ever so expensive as what is offered for free.”
― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer

“Because when I was young and I'd get an A on a history test.. or whatever.. I'd get this good feeling about all the things that I could be. And then I never became any of them.”
― Pursuit of Happyness

“Cry Out in Your Weakness
A dragon was pulling a bear into its terrible mouth.
A courageous man went and rescued the bear.
There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save
anyone who cries out. Like Mercy itself,
they run toward the screaming.
And they can’t be bought off.
If you were to ask one of those, “Why did you come
so quickly?” He or she would say, “Because I heard
your helplessness.”
Where lowland is,
that’s where water goes. All medicine wants
is pain to cure.
And don’t just ask for one mercy.
Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet.
Take the cotton out of your ears, the cotton
of consolations, so you can hear the sphere-music. . . .
Give your weakness
to One Who Helps.
Crying out loud and weeping are great resources.
A nursing mother, all she does
is wait to hear her child.
Just a little beginning-whimper,
and she’s there.
God created the child, that is, your wanting,
so that it might cry out, so that milk might come.
Cry out! Don’t be stolid and silent
with your pain. Lament! And let the milk
of Loving flow into you.
The hard rain and wind
are ways the cloud has
to take care of us.
Be patient.
Respond to every call
that excites your spirit.
Ignore those that make you fearful
and sad, that degrade you
back toward disease and death.”
― Rumi, The Essential Rumi