Tribute
Coleman Barks (1937-2026)
I Want Burning (2001, Sounds True CD)

Simple Text Only Version
Jalal al-Din’s God thunders –

I want burning.

Some hand lights a torch

An ember falls

Rumi’s moon comes out at night,
drops her clothes onto the streets

I stand, naked and trembling
Opening to whispered light
Burning for the river of stars
That wants only this

Only this

Hafiz’s wave knocks me off my feet

floats me in a warm ocean

Coleman laughs – what is this,
This throwing me back onto the beach
over and over again?

Tumbled on rough wet sand, skin burning

shame burning –

Snake skins shedding,

iridescent coils strewn like sea foam

The new drunks drip salt water geomancies across the sand.

A woman sings –

There is a passion in me

that doesn’t long for anything

This ash-

tender

heart

rides my silent skiff

gliding

trackless

through time