Rumi, On Being a Lover (by Coleman Barks)
Being a lover is close to being a worker. When the ruby becomes the sunrise, its transparency changes to a daily discipline. There's a story about a sufi who rips his robe and gives it the name faraji, which means "ripped open" or "happiness" or "one who brings the joy of being opened." Peace and compassion come as coverings are thrown open and the streaming beauty of emotion flows through the lover-worker.
THE SUNRISE RUBY by Rumi (translation by Coleman Barks)
In the early morning hour,
just before dawn, lover and beloved wake
and take a drink of water.
She asks, "Do you love me or yourself more?
Really, tell me the absolute truth."
He says, "There's nothing left of
me.
I'm like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
Is it still a stone, or a world
made of redness? It has no resistance
to sunlight."
This is how Hallaj said, I
am God,
and told the truth!
The ruby and the sunrise are one.
Be courageous and discipline yourself.
Completely become hearing and ear,
and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.
Work. Keep digging your well.
Don't think about getting off from work.
Water is there somewhere.
Submit to a daily practice.
Your loyalty to that
is a ring on the door.
Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who's there.
(OPEN for
IF this week)
Well, so much for Halloweenish. Today it's too hot for socks! Especially out at the Pumpkin Patch. There was barely a cloud in the sky. The place was swarming with kids pulling squeakie red wagons piled with pumpkins. 
There was a donkey, a few bunnies, a corn maze and even those things you put your face in for a photo. I came home with a Great Pumpkin and a pocket full of dried corn kernels I found on the ground in the corn maze. Yeah, I still do that ... wonder about and pick up all sorts of stuff from the ground!
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