Once upon a time, there was a sugar cube. One day it caught a glimpse of itself in a silver teaspoon. After seeing it's reflection, it became very curious about itself and began to wonder about existence and it's purpose in life. The little piece of sugar thought for a long time about how to find the answer. It looked to the bowl that had held it and kept it safe all it's life. Who better to pose this question to? So it called out to the sugar bowl. “Sugar bowl, what am I?” The sugar bowl replied “You are a square piece of sweetener. You have a limited time until you become stale and crumble into dust. Learn how to sweeten, that is your only purpose in this life.” So the sugar cube practiced being sweet and became so sparkly with sweetness you could almost see a light glowing inside the cube. Becoming sparkly was helping the other cubes that shared the sugar bowl. The sparkly cube always had positive words for the other cubes and encouraged them to become as sweet as they could. The cube knew it was a duty to serve the bowl of cubes and was humble in doing so. It was careful about not doing harm even when some of them blamed the sparkly cube. Even when it knew about this negative talk, the cube saw everything in itself and itself in everything so wanted for each cube what it wanted for itself. The sparkly cube was the same inwardly as it was outwardly. Once you knew the sparkly cube, you knew it was for real. You could trust it because its words always reflected its actions. News spread throughout the kitchen about the nobleness of the sparkly cube until it reached the attention of the cup of tea. The cup of tea found the sugar cube reading while sitting beside the silver spoon. The cup asked what the sugar cube was doing. The sugar cube said “something you can't understand”. So the cup picked up the spoon and dunked and stirred it inside itself. The sugar cube thinking the spoon had come near destruction hurriedly pulled the spoon out of the cup of tea. To its surprise, the spoon was clean and dry. The sparkly cube proclaimed “What is this?” The cup of tea said “Mawlana this is what you cannot understand”. So the sugar cube and the cup of tea spent two years in each others company. During this time they were inseparable. The bowl and other lumps of sugar became jealous of their relationship and rumors abounded. The community missed the sparkly cube and began to dislike and mistrust the cup, not being able to bear any of it patiently. The cube and the cup mostly ignored the kitchen as they were transported into a region of pure conversation. They started out as friends, I for myself and you for yourself, liking each other but having no expectations. As the year passed, their friendship grew into familial love. I for you, you for me; we love each other, having mutual expectations of each other. The teacher kept on teaching and the student kept on learning until the sugar cube lost all anxious feelings about existence and no longer had any fear of dying. Until the light inside the sugar cube became a reflecting mirror. In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no one sees you. But sometimes I do. And that sight becomes this art. I am for you, you are for whoever you choose; I accept whatever you want without any expectations whatsoever. The sugar cube found the self at rest.
Dissolver of sugar,
dissolve me,
if this be the time.
Do it gently with a touch
of a hand, or a look.
Every morning I wait at
dawn. That's when
it has happened before. Or
do it suddenly
like an execution. How
else
can I get ready for death?
You breathe without a
body, like a spark.
You grieve, and I begin to
feel lighter.
You keep me away with your
arm,
but the keeping away is
pulling me in.
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