A Big Ego-Beast With Baggage

I ran across this Rumi poem by Coleman Barks today and it really struck me. I've been intensely engaged in big ego-beast/pain body/queen of hearts negotiation with myself in relation to friendship/love relationship issues.

Two Friends

A certain person came to the Friend's door

and knocked.

"Who's there?"

"It's me."

The Friend answered, "Go away. There's no place

for raw meat at this table."

The individual went wandering for a year.

Nothing but the fire of separation

can change hypocrisy and ego. The person returned

completely cooked,

walked up and down in front of the Friend's house,

gently knocked.

"Who is it?"

"You."

"Please come in, my self,

there's no place in this house for two.

The doubled end of the thread is not what goes through

the eye of the needle.

It's a single-pointed, fined-down, thread end,

not a big ego-beast with baggage."