One Song

                                            Every war and every conflict
                                between human beings has happened
                                because of some disagreement about names.

                                It is such an unnecessary foolishness,
                                because just beyond the arguing
                                there is a long table of companionship
                               set and waiting for us to sit down.

                                What is praised is one, so the praise is one too,
                                many jugs being poured into a huge basin.
                                All religions, all this singing, one song.

                                The differences are just illusion and vanity.
                                Sunlight looks a little different
                                on this wall than it does on that wall
                                and a lot different on this other one,
                                but it is still the same light.

                                We have borrowed these clothes,
                                these time-and-space personalities,
                                from a light, and when we praise,
                                we are pouring them back in.

by Rumi