Alchemy

If through your burning you turn yourself to ash, 

Your ashes will become the philosopher's stone in the

     Invisible

Which birthed you from a handful of dust

And created the whole earth from the foam of the sea

And built all the heaven from black smoke! 

This is the sacred stone that takes a piece of bread

And turns it into power for our whole life

And transmutes our vital breath into consciousness.

Rumi

Andrew Harvey, translator