I have asked the eye of my heart: what is the use of all this worrying?

So don’t waste your time trying to fill your cup with water
When you know that there is nothing in this well but wind.

O Hafiz, in this desert, you have fallen victim to your own illusions.
When was a pilgrim’s thirst ever quenched by a mirage?

translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

once
many many years ago
I sat on the beach
in Santa Monica
with Gordon Anderson
waiting to see the sunrise
we had a bottle of scotch
or maybe bourbon
with us
and waited the whole night
till morning
sometime
in the early hours
as it became light
all around us
and there was no sun
in the sky
we realized the sun
rose in the east
and set in the west
we were on the wrong coast
for what we were expecting
a lesson there
I learned
either you change your expectations
or your coast
a lesson here
I am learning
all over
again