A candle is made to become entirely flame.

In that annihilating moment

it has no shadow.

It is nothing but a tongue of light

describing a refuge.

Look at this

just-finishing candle stub

as someone who is finally safe

from virtue and vice,

the pride and the shame

we claim from those.

(A Just-Finishing Candle by Jalaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi)

Liked this poem? Check out these other delightful poems by Rumi, the world’s greatest spiritual poet.