November comes, the fall pushes you back, time slows and speeds the dark, and cold calls a warning to marshal a soul friend, perhaps with whom to talk and hibernate.
—
Listen to your essential self, the Friend: When you feel
longing, be patient and
also prudent, moderate with eating and drinking. Be like
a mountain in the wind.
Do you notice how little it moves? There are sweet
illusions that arrive
to lure you away. Make some excuse to them, "I have
indigestion," or "I need
to meet my cousin." You fish, the baited hook may be fifty
or even sixty gold pieces, but
is it really worth your freedom in the ocean? When travelling,
stay close to your bag.
I am the bag that holds what you love. You can be
separated from me! Live
carefully in the joy of this friendship. Don’t think,
But those others love me
so. Some invitations sound like the fowler’s whistle
to the quail, friendly, but
not quite how you remember the call of your soul’s Friend.
-Rumi
