A Journal of Mystical Inclinations Toward the One

COOKBOOK

December 17, 2007

Chickpea to Cook

A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot where it's being boiled.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

The cook knocks him down with the ladle.

"Don't you try to jump out. You think I'm torturing you.
I'm giving you flavor, so you can mix with the spices and rice
and be the lovely vitality of a human being.

Remember when you drank rain in the garden.That was for this."

Grace first. Sexual pleasure, then a boiling new life begins, and
the Friend has something good to eat.

Eventually the chickpea will say to the cook,
"Boil me some more. Hit me with the skimming spoon.
I can't do this by myself

I'm like an elephant that dreams of gardens back in Hindustan
and doesn't pay attention to his driver. You're my cook, my driver,
my way into existence. I love your cooking."

The cook says, "I was once like you, fresh from the ground.
Then I boiled in time, and boiled in the body, two fierce boilings.

My animal soul grew powerful. I controlled it with practices,
and boiled some more, and boiled beyond that, and became your teacher."

Reprinted from The Essential Rumi. Translations from Coleman Barks with John Moyne

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