Loss is Not Defeat
Poet Coleman Barks passed away recently. At the University of Georgia English Department, he used to teach literature and creative writing. A writer of ecstatic poems, he also translated the Sufi poet, Rumi. The word ecstatic comes from the Greek ekstasis, meaning “to stand outside of oneself.” It is poetry that expresses transcendence or mystical experience. This was characteristic of the poems written by Barks, as in this excerpt of his poem "Glad."
In the glory of the gloaming-green soccer
field her team, the Gladiators, is losing
ten to zip. She never loses interest in
the roughhouse one-on-one that comes
every half a minute. She sticks her leg
in danger and comes out the other side running.
field her team, the Gladiators, is losing
ten to zip. She never loses interest in
the roughhouse one-on-one that comes
every half a minute. She sticks her leg
in danger and comes out the other side running.
...
This poem reflects joy in losing as well as in winning. To read the entire poem by Coleman Barks, go to
Read an excerpt of a poem by Rumi:
Your laughter turns the world to paradise.
It tears through me like fire.
It teaches me.
...
Last night, the spirit of dawn came to my room
and gave me a lesson in laughter.
Our blazing roars lit the morning sky.
When I brood like a rain cloud,
laughter flashes through me.
It’s the habit of lightning to laugh through a storm.
Look at the furnace. Look at the stones.
See the glowing red veins?
Gold—laughing in fire, daring you,
“Prove you’re no fake!
Laugh even when you lose.”
...
From Gold (NYRB Classics, 2022) by Rumi. Translated from the Farsi by Haleh Liza Gafori. Copyright © 2022 by Haleh Liza Gafori.
It tears through me like fire.
It teaches me.
...
Last night, the spirit of dawn came to my room
and gave me a lesson in laughter.
Our blazing roars lit the morning sky.
When I brood like a rain cloud,
laughter flashes through me.
It’s the habit of lightning to laugh through a storm.
Look at the furnace. Look at the stones.
See the glowing red veins?
Gold—laughing in fire, daring you,
“Prove you’re no fake!
Laugh even when you lose.”
...
From Gold (NYRB Classics, 2022) by Rumi. Translated from the Farsi by Haleh Liza Gafori. Copyright © 2022 by Haleh Liza Gafori.
To read the entire poem and see a lesson plan for teaching this, go to
To read a poem by Coleman Barks, go to
