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Translations by Daniel Ladinsky
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What appealed to me in this poem is many a thing: it made us laugh and reminded me of my favorite prayer, the Examen. At night when I sit down to pray, I do it as if I was starting a conversation with a good friend, because really, what other kind of relationship with God do I want to have. Also I am thinking it would be a grand thing that a benefit to saying grace is that my dinner will taste better.
Hey
Hey
The grass beneath the tree is content
and silent.
A squirrel holds an acorn in its praying hands,
offering thanks, it looks like.
The nut tastes sweet; I bet the prayer spiced
it up somehow.
The broken shells fall on the grass,
and the grass looks up
and says,
"Hey."
And the squirrel looks down
and says,
"Hey."
I Have been saying "Hey" lately too,
to God.
Formalities just weren't
working.
and silent.
A squirrel holds an acorn in its praying hands,
offering thanks, it looks like.
The nut tastes sweet; I bet the prayer spiced
it up somehow.
The broken shells fall on the grass,
and the grass looks up
and says,
"Hey."
And the squirrel looks down
and says,
"Hey."
I Have been saying "Hey" lately too,
to God.
Formalities just weren't
working.
Rumi
