The Call of Love 
Poet: Rumi

At every instant and from every side, resounds the call of Love: 
We are going to sky, who wants to come with us? 
We have gone to heaven, we have been the friends of the angels, 
And now we will go back there, for there is our country. 
We are higher than heaven, more noble than the angels: 
Why not go beyond them? Our goal is the Supreme Majesty. 
What has the fine pearl to do with the world of dust? 
Why have you come down here? Take your baggage back. What is this place? 
Luck is with us, to us is the sacrifice!... 
Like the birds of the sea, men come from the ocean--the ocean of the soul. 
How could this bird, born from that sea, make his dwelling here? 
No, we are the pearls from the bosom of the sea, it is there that we dwell: 
Otherwise how could the wave succeed to the wave that comes from the soul? 
The wave named 'Am I not your Lord' has come, it has broken the vessel of the body; 
And when the vessel is broken, the vision comes back, and the union with Him.
   
*Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch, 'Rumi and Sufism' trans. Simone Fattal 
Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 1977, 1987.

The Meaning of Prayer 
Poet: Frances McKinnon Morton 

A breath of prayer in the morning means a day of blessing  sure; 
a breath of prayer in the evening means a night of rest secure;
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A breath of prayer in our weakness means the clasp of a mighty hand;
A breath of prayer when we're lonely means someone to understand;

A breath of prayer in our sorrows means comfort and peace and rest;
A breath of prayer in our doubtings assures us the Lord knows best;

A breath of prayer in rejoicing gives joy and added delight,
For they that remember God's goodness go singing far into the night.

There's never a year nor a season that prayer may not bless every hour,
And never a soul need be helpless when linked with God's infinite power.