the rays of sun rain, then from the rippled waves they disperse, 

projected on sky, love’s warmth radiates from the currents, 

fading blue above, over the diluted reflection, 

momentary change, complication wreaks obscurity, 

mind and soul, 

elements collide, 

one might swim upstream, resist confusion and seek its truth 

sculpting abstractions, a use implies logical basis, 

an ego detached, bound to the perspective assumptions, 

over-reliance, categories blind to patterned waves, 

mind and soul, 

elements collide, 

released into air, mixing dew and vapor gradient, 

cascade of changes, collisions at every fine layer, 

contained within self, complex obscurity draws consensus, 

all of existence, combine of unlabeled relations, 

mind and soul, 

elements collide, 

Zeke Elsas (he/him) is a first-year from Pittsburgh. He was inspired by the translated Sufi ghazals found in Rumi’s works, as compiled in Rumi: Swallowing The Sun by Franklin Lewis. “Duogam” delves into the themes of contradiction and the merging of emotional and logical thinking. These themes are frequently explored in Rumi’s poetry, which often seeks to bridge the rational and the mystical through metaphor and imagery.