Don't Go Back To Sleep | Poem and Interpretation

"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don't go back to sleep."

I find this poem to be a delicious mix of the literal and the metaphorical.

It speaks of a specific threshold that is crossed every morning. If you linger here, it is worth more than any meditation, any prayer. Thousands of them. But this doorsill is crossed too quickly and forgotten.

But here, Rumi uses his poetic genius to point right at it! Imagine tossing and turning through a hot uncomfortable night. When sleep comes hard and is disturbed. Until finally, the wind changes.

A gift from heaven blows in through the windows. The breeze at dawn. This breeze doesn't just bring physical comfort. It flows through the mind, driving away all traces of thinking.

It blows away all the frustration, the mental chatter. Now, it is so easy to drift back to sleep. But wait!

"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don't go back to sleep."

This breeze knows all your secrets. All the questions you have can be answered by it. Your Identity, your True Nature, your Natural State.

When the mind is at peace; when it is quiet, these secrets are being told to you. Without words. As this peace. As this fulfillment.

At this moment, nothing life has to offer has any grip on you. Can you be more free than this? Is there any Liberation required, any Enlightenment needed, at this point?

"You must ask for what you really want.

Don't go back to sleep."

You have no material needs here. You do not even wish to wake up here. Nor do you truly wish for oblivion.

You just want to stay here. In this peace and fulfillment. This contentment that was supposed to be achieved through all those worldly desires and accomplishments. It is already here!

Now ask for what you really want. You will surely have it. Because what you want is just this peace. You don't want to move an inch.

All you want here, is to stay here. At this doorsill between existence and inexistence. This is where the two worlds meet. The world of sleep and the world of dreams.

There's no waking up here. You can only cross into forgetfulness, or start dreaming.

"People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch."

In fact, people only exist either side of this doorsill.

In the dreams and in life. Those who exist and those who have ceased to exist. They are passing through this doorsill in droves. Heedless, unaware of the magnificence of this door!

"The door is round and open.

Don't go back to sleep."

Open your eyes halfway, but don't let them open fully. Look from this doorsill with those Buddha's eyes.

You are at the doorsill, looking through the door. On one side the is existence, and the other inexistence. On one side there's everything, and the other nothing. You step forward into consciousness, and if you step back you go into unconsciousness.

From here, with the eyes half closed, what do you see? Half darkness, half brightness. All filled with Light. How big is this circle?

How wide is this door? All you can say is that it is round and open. It has no boundaries. At this doorsill you will find no people.

Not a single person. Even that character that appears upon waking up. When you are at this doorsill, all is clear. All is peace. There's only this Eternal Breeze.

Lifegiving. Nourishing. Nurturing. The Breeze of Paradise.

After you wake up, remember what it is you really want. And where it is to be found. Give up the idea of being a person in this world, forget this idea of people, and you'll find yourself, again, right at the doorsill. Wide awake.

"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don't go back to sleep."