In God Makes the Rivers to Flow; An Anthology of the World’s Sacred Poetry & Prose, Eknath Easwaran includes a selection from Mahmud Shabestari entitled “The Mirror of This World.”  I’ve written the following poem-like reflections inspired by this selection.

The Essence of a Thing

The foot of an ant is larger than an elephant;
In essence, a drop of water
            is no different than the Nile.
In the heart of a barley-corn
            lies the fruit of a hundred harvests;
Within the pulp of a millet seed
            an entire universe can be found.
—Mahmud Shabestari

Step in an ant’s footsteps and you will be stepping across continents.

You can ride an elephant into an ant hole and land on the other side of the universe.

When you get to the essence of a thing, you will drink light as much as you drink water.

You can travel the Nile into other dimensions.

Put a barley-corn on your tongue and feel its heart pumping.  Feel the tractors plowing fields.  Feel the reapers gathering the living and the dead.

You can fall through a millet seed into the void; everywhere you look there will be stars, falling like sugar from a scoop.

God drops the universe into your ear and you can hear Niagara Falls.

Stare into the firepit and see the center of the sun.

Peek in God’s mouth and see the earth from the moon.

Kiss God’s cheek and taste honey.

Take God’s hand and feel yourself holding 7.5 billion hands.