Kundalini Splendor

i've come again
like a new year
to crash the gate
of this old prison

i've come again
to break the teeth and claws
of this man-eating
monster we call life

i've come again
to puncture the
glory of the cosmos
who mercilessly
destroys humans

i am the falcon
hunting down the birds
of black omen
before their flights

i gave my word
at the outset to
give my life
with no qualms
i pray to the Lord
to break my back
before i break my word

how do you dare to
let someone like me
intoxicated with love
enter your house

you must know better
if i enter
i'll break all this and
destroy all that

if the sheriff arrives
i'll throw the wine
in his face
if your gatekeeper
pulls my hand
i'll break his arm

if the heavens don't go round
to my heart's desire
i'll crush its wheels and
pull out its roots

you have set up
a colorful table
calling it life and
asked me to your feast
but punish me if
i enjoy myself

what tyranny is this

(tr. by Nader Khalili)
(Picture from internet source)

Perhaps at this new year we should, like Rumi, break all he old molds, smash to pieces all the restrictions of habit, and toss out the window all our familiar conceptions. Perhaps we should--like some of the early American tribes--burn all our possessions and begin anew, born into new bodies, clothed in new raiment. Perhaps we should truly be "born again".

Kundalini makes such demands upon us. It tells us we must give up the old ways and the old self in order to emerge into our new identity, and allow ourselves to be conducted by fate itself into our new way of being.