Susan’s Thursday morning note June 18, 2026
Poetry by Indian Mystic and Saint Kabir
Good morning! Strong coffee. Silence broken with clicking of the keyboard. My angel of dawn has faithfully arrived a little windblown at my doorstep this morning. How grateful I am for her arrival. Another day to experience this word called life. Beautiful moments regardless of what is hard. Beautiful above in the expanse of the skies. Beautiful below in the details of roses and wildflowers. Little butterflies teasing resting cats. Beautiful around in the eyes of those I get to look into. This gift called life.
This last week I reopened a book of “100 Best Poems” – so many different books by the same title, with different selections. Whenever I take the time to open the cover of any of these collections, I know that within a few minutes I will find words that will make the journey into my soul. A journey that only few words and people are able to traverse. Poetry seeming to have an easier path. One poem was so beautiful to me on this poet’s view of God..
The poet’s name…Kabir. I had never heard of his writings, so ordered his poetry to read for all of us. He was a mystic poet and saint from India who lived 600 years ago approx. 1440-1518. Below are some of his most beautiful poems in my mind that I’ve had the opportunity to read the last few days. I hope you find the peace and beauty in them as I did. Words to carry you through this week.
“Are you looking for me?
I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas,
not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues,
nor in cathedrals:
not in masses,
nor kirtans,
not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me,
you will see me instantly —
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.”
“…But if a mirror ever makes
you sad
you should know
that it does
not know
you.”
“Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you.
The one no one talks of speaks the secret sound to himself,
and he is the one who has made it all.”
“There is dew on these poems in the morning,
and at night a cool breeze may rise from them.
In the winter they are blankets, in the summer a place to swim.”
“The sun is within me and so is the moon.”
“Slowly slowly O mind…
Everything in own pace happens,
Gardner may water a hundred buckets…
Fruit arrives only in its season.”
“Whether I be in the temple or in the balcony,
in the camp or the flower garden,
I tell you truly that every moment
my Lord is taking His delight in me.”
Another Thursday. Thank you for letting me enter yours. The sands went through our timers so quickly again this week. Thoughts entering our minds as we enter another week of sand constantly running. Can we stop a few moments mentally to think of wisdom read from years ago? Stop and think about words which will help make the moments worthy of living? Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you…truly that every moment my Lord is taking His delight in me…stand firm in that which you are……Everything in own pace happens…Student, tell me, what is God? He is the breath inside the breath.”
Again, we are given the jewel to enter another beautiful day. Day with so much going on outside in our lives. Will we have the ability to see life in the eternal perspective? To keep wisdom at the forefront of our minds? To realize “there is nothing new under the sun…” That we do have others who have lived before us to help us keep the perspective of what is so precious. This day. This day handed to us by our angels.
Tonight we will have the tools handed to us to carve into our stones. Our epitaphs. Will we have words worthy of inscription? Thank you for letting me enter your world again today. Thank you for letting me have this beautiful store and bringing your books to help us give books to those who need a gift. I hope you can enter our world soon. We’ll have the coffee, the smiles, and a peaceful world for you to possibly find a book with a paragraph with a sentence with a thought which could possibly change your life. Susan
Latin for this week:
Deus tecum. May God be with you.
Unum Deum – I believe in one God.
anima – breath
animus – courage, vivacity, bravery, will, spirit, soul
et animam scire cupio; nihil aliud – I want to know God and the soul, nothing more. (Augustine).
ab intra – from within, from the inside