Do Not Go Back to Sleep–

At the end of the day, when the house is quiet, and just before I turn out my light, I often read a chapter from one of my favorite books.  Often it’s a book on the craft of writing. And yes, as a result, I sometimes lie awake thinking about what I just read.  But I also find that in the early morning hours, during that meditative state when my mind is still free of distraction, I am at my most creative.  This is when I formulate the plan for using what I read the night before.  When I get up I immediately try to put pen to paper, hoping to capture my thoughts before they flit away.

One Rumi’s poems says—

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.Don’t go back to sleep.

I am trying to get up early every day, so as not to let those secrets slip away.  Perhaps that is why so many writers, that I know, write early in the day.

 

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don’t go back to sleep. 

You must ask for what you really want.

Don’t go back to sleep. 

People are going back and forth across the doorsill

where the two worlds touch. 

The door is round and open.

Don’t go back to sleep. 

From Essential Rumi

by Coleman Barks

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