The past flies away,
coming months and years do not exist:
Only the pinprick of this moment
belongs to us.

We decorate this speck of a moment—time—
by calling it a flowing river or a stream.

But often I find myself alone
in a desert wilde
rness,
straining to catch the faint echo of
unfamiliar sounds.

~ From The Secret Rose Garden by Sufi poet Mahmud Shabistari, thirteenth century.