I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way. Whoever brought me here, will have to take me Home

All day
I think about it,
then at night
I say it.

"Where did I come from,
and what am I supposed
to be doing?"

I have no idea.

My soul is from elsewhere,
I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness
began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober.

Meanwhile, I'm like a bird
from another continent, siting in this aviary.

The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear, who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.

If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.

I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me Home.

This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.
I don't plan it.
When I'm outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

Shams Tabriz, if you would show your face to me again
I could flee, the imposition of this life.

- Rumi, version by Coleman Barks


. Listen to this poem from youtube video of Rumi's poetry: Who Says Words with My Mouth recited by Coleman Barks himself.