The Poetry of Hafez
My Sweet, Crushed Angel
You have not danced so badly, my dear, Trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.
You have waltzed with great style, My sweet, crushed angel, To have ever neared God's heart at all.
Our Partner is notoriously difficult to follow, And even His best musicians are not always easy To hear.
So what if the music has stopped for a while.
So what If the price of admission to the Divine Is out of reach tonight.
So what, my dear, If you do not have the ante to gamble for Real Love.
The mind and the body are famous For holding the heart ransom, But Hafiz knows the Beloved's eternal habits.
Have patience, For He will not be able to resist your longing For Long.
You have not danced so badly, my dear, Trying to kiss the Beautiful One.
You have actually waltzed with tremendous style, O my sweet, O my sweet crushed angel.
-- Hafiz
http://blog.gaiam.com/quotes/authors/hafiz?page=4
http://www.thesongsofhafiz.com/index.htm
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/video/363
http://www.thesongsofhafiz.com/hafizpoetry.htm
Belly Dance to the Music of Americanistan! Poetry of Rumi, Hafiz, and Others HOME Music Sound Samples UpcomingEvents Classes with Dunyah Reviews Past Events Dunyah's Page About Us Articles Poetry Gallery Contact Virtual Press Room Links Christmas chant Poetry that inspires us...Poems by Hafiz, Rumi, and othersPlease Note: These "translations" are renditions for modern readers by Coleman Barks, Daniel Ladinsky, and others. Daniel Ladinsky, who did most of the Hafiz offered here, was born and raised in the Midwest. For six years he made his home in a spiritual community in western India, where he worked in a rurla clinic free to the poor, and lived with the disciples and family of Meher Baba. To do the work Ladinsky depended on the translations by Wilberforce Clark published in 1891.
Updated 6/27/12 The Prophet said that women totally dominate men of intellect and possessors of hearts,
But ignorant men dominate women, for they are shackled by the ferocity of animals. --Rumi This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of it's furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. --Rumi This moment, this love, comes to rest in me
many beings in one being
In one wheat grain a thousand sheep stacks
Inside the needle's eye
a turning night of stars
There is a light seed grain inside
you fill it with yourself or it dies
I am caught in this curling energy, your hair
who ever is calm and sensible
is insane! --Rumi Desse Barama (Peace) by Hamza El Din
The world shines about me, luminous as the moon, smiling like a rose, and a sweet benediction flows through everything existing. How beautiful life is.
I marvel at people who are not in love with life. You, my girl, are beautiful, and your beauty, like the beautiful thought of peace, belongs to the eternity. Detest war and destruction. When you go to the riverbank, and the sun sets in the evening, the waters of the river will be rippling softly, and from a distance, in the twilight, you will see white sails. A song of the boatman will come from there. 'Today no suffering, no suffering.' The world shines about me, luminous as the moon, smiling like a rose.
THE LUTE WILL BEG
You need to become a pen
In the Sun´s hand.
We need for the earth to sing
Through our pores and eyes.
The body will again become restless
Until your soul paints all its beauty
Upon the sky.
Don´t tell me, dear ones,
That what Hafiz says is not true,
For when the heart tastes its glorious destiny
And you awake to our constant need
for your love
God´s lute will beg
For your hands.
Hafiz
Tender Words --Rumi Tender words we spoke to one another are sealed in the secret vaults of heaven. One day like rain, they will fall to earth and grow green all over the world. Good poetry makes the universe reveal a secret --Hafiz You Were Brave in that Holy War
You have done well
In the contest of madness.
You were brave in that holy war.
You have all the honorable wounds
Of one who has tried to find love
Where the Beautiful Bird
Does not drink.
May I speak to you
Like we are close
And locked away together?
Once I found a stray kitten
And I used to soak my fingers
In warm milk;
It came to think I was five mothers
On one hand.
Wayfarer,
Why not rest your tired body?
Lean back and close your eyes.
Come morning
I will kneel by your side and feed you.
I will so gently
Spread open your mouth
And let you taste something of my
Sacred mind and life.
Surely
There is something wrong
With your ideas of
God
O, surely there is something wrong
With your ideas of
God
If you think
Our Beloved would not be so
Tender.
---"The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the great Sufi Master" translated by
Daniel Ladinsky Every child has known God
Every child has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don’ts,
Not the God who ever does Anything weird,
But the God who knows only 4 words.
And keeps repeating them, saying:
“Come Dance with Me , come dance.”
-- Hafiz
With That Moon Language
Admit something:
Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me."
Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.
Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye
that is always saying,
with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in this world is dying to hear?
Stop Being So Religious
What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious
Like That.
("The Gift" - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
I realize that the dawn
when we'll meet again
will never break,
so I give it up,
little by little, this love.
But something in me laughs
as I say this, someone
shaking his head and chuckling
softly, Hardly, hardly
--Rumi a la coleman barks...
Some Kiss We Want
There is some kiss we want with
our whole lives, the touch of
spirit on the body.
Seawater
begs the pearl to break its shell.
And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling!
At night, I open the window and ask
the moon to come and press its
face against mine.
Breathe into me.
Close the language-door and
open the love window.
The moon
won't use the door, only the window.
--Rumi. Translator: Coleman Barks
Tired of Speaking Sweetly
Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.
If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
By your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.
Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
And wants to rip to shreds
All your erroneous notions of truth
That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And with others,
Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.
God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.
The Beloved sometimes wants
To do us a great favor:
Hold us upside down
And shake all the nonsense out.
But when we hear
He is in such a "playful drunken mood"
Most everyone I know
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it
Out of town.
It happens all the time in heaven
It happens all the time in heaven,
And some day
It will begin to happen
Again on earth -
That men and women who are married,
And men and men who are
Lovers,
And women and women
Who give each other
Light,
Often will get down on their knees
And while so tenderly
Holding their lover's hand,
With tears in their eyes,
Will sincerely speak, saying,
"My dear,
How can I be more loving to you;
How can I be more
Kind?"
--Hafiz
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
--Hafiz
Someone Should Start Laughing
I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
How are you?
I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
What is God?
If you think that the Truth can be known
From words,
If you think that the Sun and the Ocean
Can pass through that tiny opening
Called the mouth,
O someone should start laughing!
Someone should start wildly Laughing -
Now!
A Golden Compass
Forget every idea of right and wrong
Any classroom ever taught you
Because
An empty heart, a tormented mind,
Unkindness, jealousy and fear
Are always the testimony
You have been completely fooled!
Turn your back on those
Who would imprison your wondrous spirit
With deceit and lies.
Come, join the honest company
Of the King’s beggars –
Those gamblers, scoundrels and divine clowns
And those astonishing fair courtesans
Who need Divine Love every night.
Come, join the courageous
Who have no choice
But to bet their entire world
That indeed,
Indeed, God is Real.
I will lead you into the Circle
Of the Beloved’s cunning thieves,
Those playful royal rogues –
The ones you can trust for true guidance –
Who can aid you
In this Blessed Calamity of life.
Hafiz,
Look at the Perfect One
At the Circle’s Center:
He Spins and Whirls like a Golden Compass,
Beyond all that is Rational,
To show this dear world
That Everything,
Everything in Existence
Does point to God.
--Hafiz
What Happens?
What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?
First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears
And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.
But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.
What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world
To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?
O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions ~
Like Hafiz.
From: 'I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz' - Daniel Ladinsky
Dance, Dervish Dance
Dance, dervish dance----
bring the face of god before you.
only love can lift the heart up so high that its true color is restored by the sun!
see him near and clapping, that perfect one who fathers divine rhythm.
o dance, dervish dance,
and know you bring your master happiness whenever you smile.
last night so many tears took flight because of joy that the sky god crowded and complained
when i discovered god hiding again in my heart
and i could not cease to celebrate.
hafiz
A poet
A poet is someone
Who can pour Light into a cup
and raise it to nourish your
beautiful parched holy mouth
--Hafiz
Manic Screaming
We should make all spiritual talk simple today
God is trying sell you something but you dont want to buy
That is what your suffering is:
your fantastic haggling
your manic screaming
over
price.
--Hafiz
My Eyes So Soft
Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly
let it cut more deep.
Let it ferment and season you
as few human or even divine ingredients can
Something missing in my heart tonight
has made my eyes so soft
my voice so tender
my need of god
absolutely clear.
--Hafiz
Constant Yearning
We are like lutes once held by God.
Being away from his warm body
Fully explains
This constant yearning.
---Hafiz
Look
Look as long as you can
at the friend you love
No matter whether that friend is moving away from you
or coming back toward you.
--Rumi
I didn't trust it for a moment,
but I drank it anyway,
the wine of my own poetry.
It gave me the daring to take hold
of the darkness and tear it down
and cut it into little pieces.
--Lalla, Contemporary of Hafiz
The way of love is not a subtle argument.
The door there is devastation.
Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom.
How do they learn it?
They fall, and falling, they're given wings.
--Rumi
THE SILENT ARTICULATION OF A FACE
Love comes with a knife,
not some shy question,
and not with fears
for its reputation!
I say these things disinterestedly.
Accept them in kind.
Love is a madman, working his wild schemes, tearing off his clothes,
running through the mountains, drinking poison,
and now quietly choosing annihilation.
A tiny spider tries to wrap an enormous wasp.
Think of the spiderweb woven across the cave
where Muhammad slept!
There are love stories,
and there is obliteration into love.
You've been walking the ocean's edge,
holding up your robes to keep them dry.
You must dive naked under and deeper under,
a thousand times deeper!
Love flows down!!
The ground submits to the sky and suffers
what comes.
Tell me, is the earth worse
for giving in like that?
Don't put blankets over the drum!
Open completely.
Let your spirit-ear listen to the green dome's passionate murmur.]
Let the cords of your robe be untied.
Shiver in this new love beyond all above and below.
The sun rises, but which way
does night go?
I have no more words. Let soul speak with the silent
articulation of a face. --Rumi A Barroom View of Love
I would not want all my words
To parade around this world
In pretty costumes,
So I will tell you something
Of the Barroom view of Love.
Love is grabbing hold of the Great Lion's mane
And wrestling and rolling deep into Existence
While the Beloved gets rough
And begins to maul you alive.
True Love, my dear,
Is putting an ironclad grip upon
The soft, swollen balls
Of a Divine Rogue Elephant
And
Not having the good fortune to Die!
--Hafiz
My Sweet, Crushed Angel
You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.
You have waltzed with great style, My sweet, crushed angel, To have ever neared God's heart at all.
Our Partner is notoriously difficult to follow,
And even His best musicians are not always easy To hear.
So what if the music has stopped for a while.
So what If the price of admission to the Divine Is out of reach tonight.
So what, my dear, If you do not have the ante to gamble for Real Love.
The mind and the body are famous For holding the heart ransom,
But Hafiz knows the Beloved's eternal habits.
Have patience, For He will not be able to resist your longing For Long.
You have not danced so badly, my dear, Trying to kiss the Beautiful One.
You have actually waltzed with tremendous style, O my sweet, O my sweet crushed angel.
-- Hafiz * * *
I saw you dancing last night on the roof of your house all alone.
I felt your heart longing for the Friend.
I saw you whirling beneath the soft bright rose that hung from an invisible stem in the sky.
So I began to change into my best clothes in hopes of joining you, even though I live a thousand miles away.
And if you had spun like an immaculate sphere just two more times, then bowed again so sweetly to the east, you would have found God and me standing so near and lifting you into our arms.
I saw you dancing last night near the roof of this world ---Hafiz
Dance when you're broken open.
Dance when you've torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance when you're perfectly free.
Struck, the dancer hears a tambourine inside her, like a wave that crests into foam at the very top, Begins.
Maybe you don't hear that tambourine, or the tree leaves clapping time.
Close the ears on your head, that listen mostly to lies and cynical jokes.
There are other things to see, and hear.
Music.
Dance.
A brilliant city inside your soul! --Rumi
Updated 6/27/12 The Prophet said that women totally dominate men of intellect and possessors of hearts,
But ignorant men dominate women, for they are shackled by the ferocity of animals. --Rumi This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of it's furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. --Rumi This moment, this love, comes to rest in me
many beings in one being
In one wheat grain a thousand sheep stacks
Inside the needle's eye
a turning night of stars
There is a light seed grain inside
you fill it with yourself or it dies
I am caught in this curling energy, your hair
who ever is calm and sensible
is insane! --Rumi Desse Barama (Peace) by Hamza El Din
The world shines about me, luminous as the moon, smiling like a rose, and a sweet benediction flows through everything existing. How beautiful life is.
I marvel at people who are not in love with life. You, my girl, are beautiful, and your beauty, like the beautiful thought of peace, belongs to the eternity. Detest war and destruction. When you go to the riverbank, and the sun sets in the evening, the waters of the river will be rippling softly, and from a distance, in the twilight, you will see white sails. A song of the boatman will come from there. 'Today no suffering, no suffering.' The world shines about me, luminous as the moon, smiling like a rose.
THE LUTE WILL BEG
You need to become a pen
In the Sun´s hand.
We need for the earth to sing
Through our pores and eyes.
The body will again become restless
Until your soul paints all its beauty
Upon the sky.
Don´t tell me, dear ones,
That what Hafiz says is not true,
For when the heart tastes its glorious destiny
And you awake to our constant need
for your love
God´s lute will beg
For your hands.
Hafiz
Tender Words --Rumi Tender words we spoke to one another are sealed in the secret vaults of heaven. One day like rain, they will fall to earth and grow green all over the world. Good poetry makes the universe reveal a secret --Hafiz You Were Brave in that Holy War
You have done well
In the contest of madness.
You were brave in that holy war.
You have all the honorable wounds
Of one who has tried to find love
Where the Beautiful Bird
Does not drink.
May I speak to you
Like we are close
And locked away together?
Once I found a stray kitten
And I used to soak my fingers
In warm milk;
It came to think I was five mothers
On one hand.
Wayfarer,
Why not rest your tired body?
Lean back and close your eyes.
Come morning
I will kneel by your side and feed you.
I will so gently
Spread open your mouth
And let you taste something of my
Sacred mind and life.
Surely
There is something wrong
With your ideas of
God
O, surely there is something wrong
With your ideas of
God
If you think
Our Beloved would not be so
Tender.
---"The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the great Sufi Master" translated by
Daniel Ladinsky Every child has known God
Every child has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don’ts,
Not the God who ever does Anything weird,
But the God who knows only 4 words.
And keeps repeating them, saying:
“Come Dance with Me , come dance.”
-- Hafiz
With That Moon Language
Admit something:
Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me."
Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.
Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye
that is always saying,
with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in this world is dying to hear?
Stop Being So Religious
What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious
Like That.
("The Gift" - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
I realize that the dawn
when we'll meet again
will never break,
so I give it up,
little by little, this love.
But something in me laughs
as I say this, someone
shaking his head and chuckling
softly, Hardly, hardly
--Rumi a la coleman barks...
Some Kiss We Want
There is some kiss we want with
our whole lives, the touch of
spirit on the body.
Seawater
begs the pearl to break its shell.
And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling!
At night, I open the window and ask
the moon to come and press its
face against mine.
Breathe into me.
Close the language-door and
open the love window.
The moon
won't use the door, only the window.
--Rumi. Translator: Coleman Barks
Tired of Speaking Sweetly
Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.
If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
By your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.
Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
And wants to rip to shreds
All your erroneous notions of truth
That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And with others,
Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.
God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.
The Beloved sometimes wants
To do us a great favor:
Hold us upside down
And shake all the nonsense out.
But when we hear
He is in such a "playful drunken mood"
Most everyone I know
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it
Out of town.
It happens all the time in heaven
It happens all the time in heaven,
And some day
It will begin to happen
Again on earth -
That men and women who are married,
And men and men who are
Lovers,
And women and women
Who give each other
Light,
Often will get down on their knees
And while so tenderly
Holding their lover's hand,
With tears in their eyes,
Will sincerely speak, saying,
"My dear,
How can I be more loving to you;
How can I be more
Kind?"
--Hafiz
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
--Hafiz
Someone Should Start Laughing
I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
How are you?
I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
What is God?
If you think that the Truth can be known
From words,
If you think that the Sun and the Ocean
Can pass through that tiny opening
Called the mouth,
O someone should start laughing!
Someone should start wildly Laughing -
Now!
A Golden Compass
Forget every idea of right and wrong
Any classroom ever taught you
Because
An empty heart, a tormented mind,
Unkindness, jealousy and fear
Are always the testimony
You have been completely fooled!
Turn your back on those
Who would imprison your wondrous spirit
With deceit and lies.
Come, join the honest company
Of the King’s beggars –
Those gamblers, scoundrels and divine clowns
And those astonishing fair courtesans
Who need Divine Love every night.
Come, join the courageous
Who have no choice
But to bet their entire world
That indeed,
Indeed, God is Real.
I will lead you into the Circle
Of the Beloved’s cunning thieves,
Those playful royal rogues –
The ones you can trust for true guidance –
Who can aid you
In this Blessed Calamity of life.
Hafiz,
Look at the Perfect One
At the Circle’s Center:
He Spins and Whirls like a Golden Compass,
Beyond all that is Rational,
To show this dear world
That Everything,
Everything in Existence
Does point to God.
--Hafiz
What Happens?
What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?
First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears
And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.
But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.
What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world
To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?
O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions ~
Like Hafiz.
From: 'I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz' - Daniel Ladinsky
Dance, Dervish Dance
Dance, dervish dance----
bring the face of god before you.
only love can lift the heart up so high that its true color is restored by the sun!
see him near and clapping, that perfect one who fathers divine rhythm.
o dance, dervish dance,
and know you bring your master happiness whenever you smile.
last night so many tears took flight because of joy that the sky god crowded and complained
when i discovered god hiding again in my heart
and i could not cease to celebrate.
hafiz
A poet
A poet is someone
Who can pour Light into a cup
and raise it to nourish your
beautiful parched holy mouth
--Hafiz
Manic Screaming
We should make all spiritual talk simple today
God is trying sell you something but you dont want to buy
That is what your suffering is:
your fantastic haggling
your manic screaming
over
price.
--Hafiz
My Eyes So Soft
Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly
let it cut more deep.
Let it ferment and season you
as few human or even divine ingredients can
Something missing in my heart tonight
has made my eyes so soft
my voice so tender
my need of god
absolutely clear.
--Hafiz
Constant Yearning
We are like lutes once held by God.
Being away from his warm body
Fully explains
This constant yearning.
---Hafiz
Look
Look as long as you can
at the friend you love
No matter whether that friend is moving away from you
or coming back toward you.
--Rumi
I didn't trust it for a moment,
but I drank it anyway,
the wine of my own poetry.
It gave me the daring to take hold
of the darkness and tear it down
and cut it into little pieces.
--Lalla, Contemporary of Hafiz
The way of love is not a subtle argument.
The door there is devastation.
Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom.
How do they learn it?
They fall, and falling, they're given wings.
--Rumi
THE SILENT ARTICULATION OF A FACE
Love comes with a knife,
not some shy question,
and not with fears
for its reputation!
I say these things disinterestedly.
Accept them in kind.
Love is a madman, working his wild schemes, tearing off his clothes,
running through the mountains, drinking poison,
and now quietly choosing annihilation.
A tiny spider tries to wrap an enormous wasp.
Think of the spiderweb woven across the cave
where Muhammad slept!
There are love stories,
and there is obliteration into love.
You've been walking the ocean's edge,
holding up your robes to keep them dry.
You must dive naked under and deeper under,
a thousand times deeper!
Love flows down!!
The ground submits to the sky and suffers
what comes.
Tell me, is the earth worse
for giving in like that?
Don't put blankets over the drum!
Open completely.
Let your spirit-ear listen to the green dome's passionate murmur.]
Let the cords of your robe be untied.
Shiver in this new love beyond all above and below.
The sun rises, but which way
does night go?
I have no more words. Let soul speak with the silent
articulation of a face. --Rumi A Barroom View of Love
I would not want all my words
To parade around this world
In pretty costumes,
So I will tell you something
Of the Barroom view of Love.
Love is grabbing hold of the Great Lion's mane
And wrestling and rolling deep into Existence
While the Beloved gets rough
And begins to maul you alive.
True Love, my dear,
Is putting an ironclad grip upon
The soft, swollen balls
Of a Divine Rogue Elephant
And
Not having the good fortune to Die!
--Hafiz
My Sweet, Crushed Angel
You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.
You have waltzed with great style, My sweet, crushed angel, To have ever neared God's heart at all.
Our Partner is notoriously difficult to follow,
And even His best musicians are not always easy To hear.
So what if the music has stopped for a while.
So what If the price of admission to the Divine Is out of reach tonight.
So what, my dear, If you do not have the ante to gamble for Real Love.
The mind and the body are famous For holding the heart ransom,
But Hafiz knows the Beloved's eternal habits.
Have patience, For He will not be able to resist your longing For Long.
You have not danced so badly, my dear, Trying to kiss the Beautiful One.
You have actually waltzed with tremendous style, O my sweet, O my sweet crushed angel.
-- Hafiz * * *
I saw you dancing last night on the roof of your house all alone.
I felt your heart longing for the Friend.
I saw you whirling beneath the soft bright rose that hung from an invisible stem in the sky.
So I began to change into my best clothes in hopes of joining you, even though I live a thousand miles away.
And if you had spun like an immaculate sphere just two more times, then bowed again so sweetly to the east, you would have found God and me standing so near and lifting you into our arms.
I saw you dancing last night near the roof of this world ---Hafiz
Dance when you're broken open.
Dance when you've torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance when you're perfectly free.
Struck, the dancer hears a tambourine inside her, like a wave that crests into foam at the very top, Begins.
Maybe you don't hear that tambourine, or the tree leaves clapping time.
Close the ears on your head, that listen mostly to lies and cynical jokes.
There are other things to see, and hear.
Music.
Dance.
A brilliant city inside your soul! --Rumi
Selections from I Heard God Laughing, Tonight the Subject is Love, and
The Gift, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, selected by Jason Espada.
Table of Contents page
From ‘I Heard God Laughing’
1. Introduction 1
2. You Are with the Friend Now 2
3. And Applaud 3
4. Cast All Your Votes for Dancing 5
5. The Jeweler 7
6. Saints Bowing in the Mountains 8
7. Zero 9
8. If It Is Not Too Dark 10
9. Awake Awhile 11
10. I Know the Way You Can Get 12
11. The Only Sin I Know 14
12. Laughter 15
Table of Contents page
From ‘Tonight the Subject is Love’
13. At this Party 16
14. No Other Kind of Light 17
15. Not With Wings 18
16. Venus Just Asked Me 20
17. Ten Thousand Idiots 21
From ‘The Gift’
18. My spring eyes… 22
19. A Poet 22
20. Looking for Good Fish 23
21. We Have Not Come to Take Prisoners 24
22. I Rain 25
23. God Just Came Near 26
24. The Sun Never Says 27
25. Why Just Ask the Donkey 28
26. You carry all the ingredients… 30
27. Curfews 31
Table of Contents page
28. Art is the conversation… 32
29. The Vintage Man 33
30. Just Looking for Trouble 34
31. The Gift 35
32. The Scent of Light 36
33. The Stairway of Existence 37
34. Behind the veil Hafiz… 38
35. Stop Being So Religious 39
36. It Felt Love 40
37. Two Bears 41
38. The Warrior 42
39. Tiny Gods 43
40. Elegance 44
41. Dropping Keys 45
42. Spiced Manna 46
43. Becoming Human 47
44. The Thousand-Stringed Instrument 48
45. The God Who Only Knows Four Words 49
Table of Contents page
46. The Diamond Takes Shape 50
47. What is the Root? 51
48. Troubled? 52
49. Act Great 53
1
From ‘I Heard God Laughing’
Introduction
Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafiz (c. 1320-1389), though little known in the
Western world, is the most beloved poet of Persia (Iran). To Persians, the
poems of Hafiz are not "classical literature" from a remote past, but
cherished wisdom from a dear and intimate friend. The special gift of this
friend is a poetry unique in world literature, a poetry that celebrates every
expression of love in the universe.
The lyrics of Hafiz overflow with a profound appreciation of the beauty and
richness of life when seen through the eyes of love. With unerring insight,
he explores the feelings and motives associated with every level of love,
tracing each nuance of emotion in depth and detail. His poetry outlines the
stages of the mystic's "path of love" that journey of inner unfolding in which
love dissolves personal boundaries and limitations to join larger processes of
growth and transformation. Through these processes, human love becomes
divine love and the lover merges ultimately with the source and goal of all
love, which Hafiz calls the Divine Beloved.
2
You Are with the Friend Now
Hafiz describes some of the preparations required for the inner
"Journey of Love." He urges us to let go of habitual negative attitudes
and unnecessary attachments, which only weigh us down. To make
this Journey, we must be light, happy and free to go Dancing!
'I wish I could show you, When you are lonely or in darkness,
The Astonishing Light Of your own Being"
3
And Applaud
Once a young man came to me and said,
"Dear Master,
I am feeling strong and brave today, And I would like to know the truth
About all of my-attachments."
And I replied,
"Attachments?
Attachments!
Sweet Heart,
Do you really want me to speak to you
About all your attachments,
When I can see so clearly
You have built, with so much care,
Such a great brothel
To house all of your pleasures.
You have even surrounded the whole damn place
With armed guards and vicious dogs
To protect your desires
So that you can sneak away
From time to time
And try to squeeze light
Into your parched being
From a source as fruitful
As a dried date pit
That even a bird
Is wise enough to spit out.
Your attachments! My dear,
Let's not speak of those,
4
For Hafiz understands the sufferings
Of your heart.
Hafiz knows
The torments and the agonies
That every mind on the way to Annihilation in the Sun
Must endure.
So at night in my prayers I often stop
And ask a thousand angels to join in
And Applaud,
And Applaud
Anything,
Anything in this world
That can bring your heart comfort!"
5
Cast All Your Votes for Dancing
I know the voice of depression
Still calls to you.
I know those habits that can ruin your life
Still send their invitations .
But you are with the Friend now
And look so much stronger.
You can stay that way
And even bloom!
Keep squeezing drops of the Sun
From your prayers and work and music
And from your companions' beautiful laughter.
Keep squeezing drops of the Sun
From the sacred hands and glance of your Beloved
And, my dear,
From the most insignificant movements
Of your own holy body.
Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins
That may buy you just a moment of pleasure,
But then drag you for days
Like a broken man
Behind a farting camel.
You are with the Friend now.
Learn what actions of yours delight Him,
What actions of yours bring freedom
And Love.
Whenever you say God's name, dear pilgrim,
My ears wish my head was missing
So they could finally kiss each other
And applaud all your nourishing wisdom!
6
O keep squeezing drops of the Sun
From your prayers and work and music
And from your companions' beautiful laughter
And from the most insignificant movements
Of your own holy body.
Now, sweet one,
Be wise.
Cast all your votes for Dancing!
7
The Jeweler
If a naive and desperate man
Brings a precious stone
To the only jeweler in town,
Wanting to sell it,
The jeweler's eyes
Will begin to play a game,
Like most eyes in the world when they look at you.
The jeweler's face will stay calm.
He will not want to reveal the stone's true value,
But to hold the man captive to fear and greed
While he calculates
The value of the transaction.
But one moment with me, my dear,
Will show you
That there is nothing,
Nothing
Hafiz wants from you.
When you sit before a Master like me,
Even if you are a drooling mess,
My eyes sing with Excitement
They see your Divine Worth.
8
Saints Bowing in the Mountains
Do you know how beautiful you are?
I think not, my dear.
For as you talk of God,
I see great parades with wildly colorful bands
Streaming from your mind and heart,
Carrying wonderful and secret messages
To every corner of this world.
I see saints bowing in the mountains
Hundreds of miles away
To the wonder of sounds
That break into light
From your most common words.
Speak to me of your mother,
Your cousins and your friends.
Tell me of squirrels and birds you know.
Awaken your legion of nightingales -
Let them soar wild and free in the sky
And begin to sing to God.
Let's all begin to sing to God!
Do you know how beautiful you are?
I think not, my dear,
Yet Hafiz
Could set you upon a Stage
And worship you forever!
9
Zero
Zero
Is where the Real Fun starts.
There's too much counting
Everywhere else!
10
If It Is Not Too Dark
Go for a walk, if it is not too dark.
Get some fresh air, try to smile.
Say something kind
To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by.
Always exercise your heart's knowing.
You might as well attempt something real
Along this path:
Take your spouse or lover into your arms
The way you did when you first met.
Let tenderness pour from your eyes
The way the Sun gazes warmly on the earth.
Play a game with some children.
Extend yourself to a friend.
Sing a few ribald songs to your pets and plants –
Why not let them get drunk and wild!
Let's toast
Every rung we've climbed on Evolution's ladder.
Whisper, "I love you! I love you!"
To the whole mad world.
Let's stop reading about God -
We will never understand Him.
Jump to your feet, wave your fists,
Threaten and warn the whole Universe
That your heart can no longer live
Without real love!
11
Awake Awhile
Awake awhile.
It does not have to be
Forever,
Right now.
One step upon the Sky's soft skirt
Would be enough.
Hafiz,
Awake awhile.
Just one True moment of Love
Will last for days.
Rest all your elaborate plans and tactics
For Knowing Him,
For they are all just frozen spring buds
Far,
So far from Summer's Divine Gold.
Awake, my dear.
Be kind to your sleeping heart.
Take it out into the vast fields of Light
And let it breathe.
Say,
"Love,
Give me back my wings.
Lift me,
Lift me nearer."
Say to the sun and moon,
Say to our dear Friend,
"I will take You up now, Beloved,
On that wonderful Dance You promised!"
12
I Know the Way You Can Get
I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:
Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.
Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.
Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one's self
O I know the way you can get
If you have not been out drinking Love:
You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.
You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.
You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
Trusted.
13
I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love's
Hands.
That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep Remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.
That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me,
For I am a Sweet Old Vagabond
With an Infinite Leaking Barrel
Of Light and Laughter and Truth
That the Beloved has tied to my back.
Dear one,
Indeed, please bring your heart near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!
All a Sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love!
14
The Only Sin I Know
If someone sits with me
And we talk about the Beloved,
If I cannot give his heart comfort,
If I cannot make him feel better
About himself and this world,
Then, Hafiz,
Quickly run to the mosque and pray -
For you have just committed
The only sin I know.
15
Laughter
What is laughter? What is laughter?
It is God waking up! O it is God waking up!
It is the sun poking its sweet head out
From behind a cloud
You have been carrying too long,
Veiling your eyes and heart.
It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure
That is your Real body- called Truth.
It is happiness applauding itself and then taking flight
To embrace everyone and everything in this world.
Laughter is the polestar
Held in the sky by our Beloved,
Who eternally says,
"Yes, dear ones, come this way,
Come this way toward Me and Love!
Come with your tender mouths moving
And your beautiful tongues conducting songs
And with your movements - your magic movements
Of hands and feet and glands and cells - Dancing!
Know that to God's Eye,
All movement is a Wondrous Language,
And Music - such exquisite, wild Music!"
O what is laughter, Hafiz?
What is this precious love and laughter
Budding in our hearts?
It is the glorious sound
Of a soul waking up!
16
From ‘Tonight the Subject is Love’
At this Party
I don’t want to be the only one here
Telling all the secrets -
Filling up all the bowls at this party,
Taking all the laughs.
1 would like you
To start putting things on the table
That can also feed the soul
The way 1 do.
That way We can invite
A hell of a lot more
Friends.
17
No Other Kind of Light
Find that flame, that love,
That Wonderful Man
Who can bum beneath the water.
No other kind of light
Will cook the food you
Need.
18
Not With Wings
Here soar
Not with wings
But with your moving hands and feet
And sweating brows –
Standing by your Beloved’s side
Reaching out to comfort this world
With your cup of solace
Drawn from your vast reservoir of Truth.
Here soar
Not with your eyes and senses
That turn their backs
On the earth’s sweet stumbling dance
Which needs you.
Here love, O here love,
With your mouth tender and open upon your lover,
And with your heart on duty
To the souls of rivers, children, forest animals,
All the shy feathered ones and laughing, jumping,
Shining fish.
O here, pilgrim,
Love
On this holy battleground of life
Where there are bleeding men
Who are calling for a sacred drink,
A gentle word or touch from man
Or God.
19
Hafiz! why just serve and play with angels?
They are already content.
Brew your knowledge well for men
With aching minds and guts!
And for those wayfarers who have gained
The rare courageous thirsts
That can never be relinquished
Until Union!
Hafiz!
Leave your recipes in golden drums.
Tie those barrels to the backs of camels
Who will keep circumambulating the worlds,
Giving nourishment
To all our tender wondrous spheres.
O here love, O love right here.
Find your happiness, dear wayfarer,
With your beautiful lips and body
So sweetly opened,
Yielding their vital gifts upon
This magnificent
Earth.
20
Venus Just Asked Me
Perhaps
For just one minute out of the day,
It may be of value to torture yourself
With thoughts like,
“I should be doing
A hell of a lot more with my life than I am -
Cause I’m so damn talented.”
But remember,
For just one minute out of the day.
With all the rest of your time,
It would be best
To try
Looking upon your self more as God does.
For He knows
Your true royal nature.
God is never confused
And can see Only Himself in you.
My dear,
Venus just leaned down and asked me
To tell you a secret, to confess
She’s just a mirror who has been stealing
Your light and music for centuries.
She knows as does Hafiz,
You are the sole heir to
The King.
21
Ten Thousand Idiots
It is always a danger
To the aspirant
On the
Path
When one begins
To believe and
Act
As if the ten thousand idiots
Who so long ruled
And lived
Inside
Have all packed their bags
And skipped town
Or
Died .
22
From ‘The Gift’
My spring eyes still warm faces, and awake verdant earths in your soul.
A Poet
A Poet is someone
Who can pour light into a cup,
Then raise it to nourish
Your beautiful parched, holy mouth.
23
LOOKING FOR GOOD FISH
Why complain about life
If you are looking for good fish
And have followed some idiot
Into the middle of the copper market?
Why go crazy
If you are looking for fine silk
And you keep rubbing your hands against
Burlap and hemp sacks?
If your heart really needs to touch a face
That is filled with abundance
Then why didn't you come to this
Old Man sooner?
For my cheek is the universe's cloister
And if you can make your prayers sweet enough
Tonight
Then Hafiz will lean over and offer you
All the warmth in my body
In case God is busy
Doing something else
Somewhere.
Why complain if you are looking
To quench your spirit's longing
And have followed a rat into a desert.
If your soul really needs to touch a face
That is always filled with compassion
And tenderness
Then why,
Why my dear
Did you not come to your friend Hafiz
Sooner?
24
WE HAVE NOT COME TO
TAKE PRISONERS
We have not come here to take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.
We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love.
Run my dear,
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.
Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision
Of your beautiful heart.
We have a duty to befriend
Those aspects of obedience
That stand outside of our house
And shout to our reason
"O please, O please,
Come out and play."
For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits,
But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom, and
Light!
25
I RAI N
I rain
Because your meadows call
For God.
I weave light into words so that
When your mind holds them
Your eyes will relinquish their sadness,
Turn bright, a little brighter, giving to us
The way a candle does
To the dark.
I have wrapped my laughter like a birthday gift
And left it beside your bed.
I have planted the wisdom in my heart
Next to every signpost in the sky.
A wealthy man
Often becomes eccentric,
A divine crazed soul
Is transformed into infinite generosity
Tying gold sacks of gratuity
To the dangling feet of moons, planets, ecstatic
Midair dervishes, and singing birds.
I speak
Because every cell in your body
Is reaching out
For God.
26
GOD JUST CAME NEAR
No
One
In need of love
Can sit with my verse for
An hour
And then walk away without carrying
Golden tools,
And feeling that God
Just came
Near.
27
THE SUN NEVER SAYS
Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,
“You owe
Me.”
Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.
28
WHY JUST ASK THE DONKEY
Why
Just ask the donkey in me
To speak to the donkey in you,
When I have so many other beautiful animals
And brilliant colored birds inside
That are all longing to say something wonderful
And exciting to your heart?
Let's open all the locked doors upon our eyes
That keep us from knowing the Intelligence
That begets love
And a more lively and satisfying conversation
With the Friend.
Let's turn loose our golden falcons
So that they can meet in the sky
Where our spirits belong -
Necking like two
Hot kids.
Let's hold hands and get drunk near the sun
And sing sweet songs to God
Until He joins us with a few notes
From His own sublime lute and drum.
If you have a better idea
Of how to pass a lonely night
After your glands may have performed
All their little magic
Then speak up sweethearts, speak up,
For Hafiz and all the world will listen.
Why just bring your donkey to me
Asking for stale hay
29
And a boring conference with the idiot
In regards to this precious matter –
Such a precious matter as love,
When I have so many other divine animals
And brilliant colored birds inside
That are all longing
To so sweetly
Greet
You!
30
You carry all the ingredients
To turn your existence into joy,
Mix them, mix
Them!
31
CURFEWS
Noise
Is a cruel ruler
Who is always imposing
Curfews,
While
Stillness and quiet
Break open the vintage
Bottles,
Awake the real
Band.
32
Art is the conversation between lovers.
Art offers an opening for the heart.
True art makes the divine silence in the soul
Break into applause.
Art is, at last, the knowledge of
Where we are standing –
Where we are standing
In this Wonderland
When we rip off all our clothes
And this blind man's patch, veil,
That got tied across our brow.
Art is the conversation between lovers.
True art awakes the
Extraordinary
Ovation.
33
THE VINTAGE MAN
The
Difference
Between a good artist
And a great one
Is:
The novice
Will often lay down his tool
Or brush
Then pick up an invisible club
On the mind's table
And helplessly smash the easels and
Jade.
Whereas the vintage man
No longer hurts himself or anyone
And keeps on Sculpting
Light.
34
JUST LOOKING FOR TROUBLE
I once had a student
Who would sit alone in his house at night
Shivering with worries
And fears,
And, come morning,
He would often look as though
He had been raped
By a ghost.
Then one day my pity
Crafted for him a knife
From my own divine sword.
Since then,
I have become very proud
Of this student.
For now, come night,
Not only has he lost all his fear,
Now he goes out
Just looking for
Trouble.
35
The Gift
Our
Union is like this:
You feel cold
So I reach for a blanket to cover
Our shivering feet.
A hunger comes into your body
So I run to my garden
And start digging potatoes.
You ask for a few words of comfort and guidance,
I quickly kneel at your side offering you
This whole book-
As a gift.
You ache with loneliness one night
So much you weep
And I say,
Here's a rope,
Tie it around me,
Hafiz
Will be your companion
For life.
36
THE SCENT OF LIGHT
Like a great starving beast
My body is quivering
Fixed
On the scent
Of
Light.
37
THE STAIRWAY OF EXISTENCE
We
Are not
In pursuit of formalities
Or fake religious Laws,
For through the stairway of existence
We have come to God's
Door.
We are
People who need to love, because
Love is the soul's life,
Love is simply creation's greatest joy.
Through
The stairway of existence,
O, through the stairway of existence, Hafiz,
Have
You now come,
Have we all now come to
The Beloved's
Door.
38
Behind the veil Hafiz and angels sometimes weep
Because most eyes are rarely glad
And your divine beauty is still too frightened
To unfurl its thousand swaying arms.
39
STOP BEING SO RELIGIOUS
What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious
Like
That.
40
IT FELT LOVE
How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened.
41
TWO BEARS
Once
After a hard day's forage
Two bears sat together in silence
On a beautiful vista
Watching the sun go down
And feeling deeply grateful
For life.
Though, after a while
A thought-provoking conversation began
Which turned to the topic of
Fame.
The one bear said,
"Did you hear about Rustam?
He has become famous
And travels from city to city
In a golden cage;
He performs to hundreds of people
Who laugh and applaud
His carnival
Stunts."
The other bear thought for
A few seconds
Then started
Weeping.
42
THE WARRIOR
The warriors tame
The beasts in their past
So that the night's hoofs
Can no longer break the jeweled vision
In the heart.
The intelligent and the brave
Open every closet in the future and evict
All the mind's ghosts who have the bad habit
Of barfing everywhere.
For a long time the Universe
Has been germinating in your spine
But only a Pir* has the talent,
The courage to slay
The past-giant, the future-anxieties.
The warrior
Wisely sits in a circle
With other men
Gathering the strength to unmask
Himself,
Then
Sits, giving,
Like a great illumined planet on
The
Earth.
* Persian: Saint
43
Tiny Gods
Some gods say, the tiny ones,
"1 am not here in your vibrant, moist lips
That need to beach themselves upon
The golden shore of a
Naked body."
Some gods say, "I am not
The scarred yearning in the unrequited soul;
I am not the blushing cheek
Of every star and
Planet-
I am not the applauding Chef
Of those precious secretions that can distill
The whole mind into a perfect wincing jewel, if only
For a moment;
Nor do 1 reside in every pile of sweet warm dung
Born of the earth's
Gratuity."
Some gods say, the ones we need to hang,
"Your mouth is not designed to know His,
Love was not born to consume
The luminous
Realms."
Dear ones,
Beware of the tiny gods frightened men
Create
To bring an anesthetic relief
To their sad
Days.
44
ELEGANCE
It
Is not easy
To stop thinking ill
Of others.
Usually one must enter into a friendship
With a person
Who has accomplished that great feat himself
Then
Something
Might start to rub off on you
Of that
True
Elegance.
45
DROPPING KEYS
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
46
Spiced Manna
Someone
Will steal you if you don't
Stay near,
And sell you as a slave in the
Market.
I sing
To the nightingales' hearts
Hoping they will learn
My verse
So that no one will ever imprison
Your brilliant angel
Feathers.
Have I put enough spiced manna
On your plate
Tonight
In this Tavern
Where Hafiz
Serves?
If not please wait
For more light is now
Fermenting.
Someone will steal you if you
Don't stay near,
And sell you as a slave in
The market,
So your Beloved and I
Sing.
47
BECOMING HUMAN
Once a man came to me and spoke for hours about
"His great visions of God" he felt he was having.
He asked me for confirmation, saying,
"Are these wondrous dreams true?"
I replied, "How many goats do you have?"
He looked surprised and said,
"I am speaking of sublime visions
And you ask
About goats!"
And I spoke again saying,
"Yes, brother – how many do you have?"
"Well, Hafiz, I have sixty-two."
'And how many wives?"
Again he looked surprised, then said,
"Four."
"How many rose bushes in your garden,
How many children,
Are your parents still alive,
Do you feed the birds in winter?"
And to all he answered.
Then I said,
"You asked me if I thought your visions were true,
I would say that they were if they make you become
More human,
More kind to every creature and plant
That you know."
48
THE THOUSAND-STRINGED INSTRUMENT
The heart is
The thousand-stringed instrument.
Our sadness and fear come from being
Out of tune with love.
All day long God coaxes my lips
To speak,
So that your tears will not stain
His green dress.
It is not that the Friend is vain,
It is just your life we care about.
Sometimes the Beloved
Takes my pen in hand,
For Hafiz is just a simple man.
The other day the Old One
Wrote on the Tavern wall:
"The heart is
The thousand-stringed instrument
That can only be tuned with
Love.”
49
The God Who Only Knows
Four Words
Every
Child
Has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don'ts,
Not the God who ever does
Anything weird,
But the God who only knows four words
And keeps repeating them, saying:
"Come dance with Me."
Come
Dance.
50
THE DIAMOND TAKES SHAPE
Some parrots
Have become so skilled with
The human voice
They could give a brilliant discourse
About freedom and God
And an unsighted man nearby might
Even begin applauding with
The thought:
I just heard jewels fall from a
Great saint's mouth,
Though my Master used to say,
"The diamond takes shape slowly
With integrity's great force,
And from
The profound courage to never relinquish love."
Some parrots have become so skilled
With words,
The blind turn over their gold
And lives to caged
Feathers.
51
WHAT IS THE ROOT?
What
Is the
Root of all these
Words?
One thing: love.
But a love so deep and sweet
It needed to express itself
With scents, sounds, colors
That never before
Existed.
52
TROUBLED?
Troubled?
Then stay with me, for I'm not.
Lonely?
A thousand naked amorous ones dwell in ancient caves
Beneath my eyelids.
Riches?
Here's a pick,
My whole body is an emerald that begs,
“Take me.”
Write all that worries you on a piece of parchment;
Offer it to God.
Even from the distance of a millennium
I can lean the flame in my heart
Into your life
And turn
All that frightens you
Into holy
Incense
Ash.
53
ACT GREAT
What is the key
To untie the knot of your mind's suffering?
What
Is the esoteric secret
To slay the crazed one whom each of us
Did wed
And who can ruin
Our heart's and eye's exquisite tender
Landscape?
Hafiz has found
Two emerald words that
Restored
Me
That I now cling to as I would sacred
Tresses of my Beloved's
Hair:
Act great.
My dear, always act great.
What is the key
To untie the knot of the mind's suffering?
Benevolent thought, sound
And movement.
The Gift, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, selected by Jason Espada.
Table of Contents page
From ‘I Heard God Laughing’
1. Introduction 1
2. You Are with the Friend Now 2
3. And Applaud 3
4. Cast All Your Votes for Dancing 5
5. The Jeweler 7
6. Saints Bowing in the Mountains 8
7. Zero 9
8. If It Is Not Too Dark 10
9. Awake Awhile 11
10. I Know the Way You Can Get 12
11. The Only Sin I Know 14
12. Laughter 15
Table of Contents page
From ‘Tonight the Subject is Love’
13. At this Party 16
14. No Other Kind of Light 17
15. Not With Wings 18
16. Venus Just Asked Me 20
17. Ten Thousand Idiots 21
From ‘The Gift’
18. My spring eyes… 22
19. A Poet 22
20. Looking for Good Fish 23
21. We Have Not Come to Take Prisoners 24
22. I Rain 25
23. God Just Came Near 26
24. The Sun Never Says 27
25. Why Just Ask the Donkey 28
26. You carry all the ingredients… 30
27. Curfews 31
Table of Contents page
28. Art is the conversation… 32
29. The Vintage Man 33
30. Just Looking for Trouble 34
31. The Gift 35
32. The Scent of Light 36
33. The Stairway of Existence 37
34. Behind the veil Hafiz… 38
35. Stop Being So Religious 39
36. It Felt Love 40
37. Two Bears 41
38. The Warrior 42
39. Tiny Gods 43
40. Elegance 44
41. Dropping Keys 45
42. Spiced Manna 46
43. Becoming Human 47
44. The Thousand-Stringed Instrument 48
45. The God Who Only Knows Four Words 49
Table of Contents page
46. The Diamond Takes Shape 50
47. What is the Root? 51
48. Troubled? 52
49. Act Great 53
1
From ‘I Heard God Laughing’
Introduction
Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafiz (c. 1320-1389), though little known in the
Western world, is the most beloved poet of Persia (Iran). To Persians, the
poems of Hafiz are not "classical literature" from a remote past, but
cherished wisdom from a dear and intimate friend. The special gift of this
friend is a poetry unique in world literature, a poetry that celebrates every
expression of love in the universe.
The lyrics of Hafiz overflow with a profound appreciation of the beauty and
richness of life when seen through the eyes of love. With unerring insight,
he explores the feelings and motives associated with every level of love,
tracing each nuance of emotion in depth and detail. His poetry outlines the
stages of the mystic's "path of love" that journey of inner unfolding in which
love dissolves personal boundaries and limitations to join larger processes of
growth and transformation. Through these processes, human love becomes
divine love and the lover merges ultimately with the source and goal of all
love, which Hafiz calls the Divine Beloved.
2
You Are with the Friend Now
Hafiz describes some of the preparations required for the inner
"Journey of Love." He urges us to let go of habitual negative attitudes
and unnecessary attachments, which only weigh us down. To make
this Journey, we must be light, happy and free to go Dancing!
'I wish I could show you, When you are lonely or in darkness,
The Astonishing Light Of your own Being"
3
And Applaud
Once a young man came to me and said,
"Dear Master,
I am feeling strong and brave today, And I would like to know the truth
About all of my-attachments."
And I replied,
"Attachments?
Attachments!
Sweet Heart,
Do you really want me to speak to you
About all your attachments,
When I can see so clearly
You have built, with so much care,
Such a great brothel
To house all of your pleasures.
You have even surrounded the whole damn place
With armed guards and vicious dogs
To protect your desires
So that you can sneak away
From time to time
And try to squeeze light
Into your parched being
From a source as fruitful
As a dried date pit
That even a bird
Is wise enough to spit out.
Your attachments! My dear,
Let's not speak of those,
4
For Hafiz understands the sufferings
Of your heart.
Hafiz knows
The torments and the agonies
That every mind on the way to Annihilation in the Sun
Must endure.
So at night in my prayers I often stop
And ask a thousand angels to join in
And Applaud,
And Applaud
Anything,
Anything in this world
That can bring your heart comfort!"
5
Cast All Your Votes for Dancing
I know the voice of depression
Still calls to you.
I know those habits that can ruin your life
Still send their invitations .
But you are with the Friend now
And look so much stronger.
You can stay that way
And even bloom!
Keep squeezing drops of the Sun
From your prayers and work and music
And from your companions' beautiful laughter.
Keep squeezing drops of the Sun
From the sacred hands and glance of your Beloved
And, my dear,
From the most insignificant movements
Of your own holy body.
Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins
That may buy you just a moment of pleasure,
But then drag you for days
Like a broken man
Behind a farting camel.
You are with the Friend now.
Learn what actions of yours delight Him,
What actions of yours bring freedom
And Love.
Whenever you say God's name, dear pilgrim,
My ears wish my head was missing
So they could finally kiss each other
And applaud all your nourishing wisdom!
6
O keep squeezing drops of the Sun
From your prayers and work and music
And from your companions' beautiful laughter
And from the most insignificant movements
Of your own holy body.
Now, sweet one,
Be wise.
Cast all your votes for Dancing!
7
The Jeweler
If a naive and desperate man
Brings a precious stone
To the only jeweler in town,
Wanting to sell it,
The jeweler's eyes
Will begin to play a game,
Like most eyes in the world when they look at you.
The jeweler's face will stay calm.
He will not want to reveal the stone's true value,
But to hold the man captive to fear and greed
While he calculates
The value of the transaction.
But one moment with me, my dear,
Will show you
That there is nothing,
Nothing
Hafiz wants from you.
When you sit before a Master like me,
Even if you are a drooling mess,
My eyes sing with Excitement
They see your Divine Worth.
8
Saints Bowing in the Mountains
Do you know how beautiful you are?
I think not, my dear.
For as you talk of God,
I see great parades with wildly colorful bands
Streaming from your mind and heart,
Carrying wonderful and secret messages
To every corner of this world.
I see saints bowing in the mountains
Hundreds of miles away
To the wonder of sounds
That break into light
From your most common words.
Speak to me of your mother,
Your cousins and your friends.
Tell me of squirrels and birds you know.
Awaken your legion of nightingales -
Let them soar wild and free in the sky
And begin to sing to God.
Let's all begin to sing to God!
Do you know how beautiful you are?
I think not, my dear,
Yet Hafiz
Could set you upon a Stage
And worship you forever!
9
Zero
Zero
Is where the Real Fun starts.
There's too much counting
Everywhere else!
10
If It Is Not Too Dark
Go for a walk, if it is not too dark.
Get some fresh air, try to smile.
Say something kind
To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by.
Always exercise your heart's knowing.
You might as well attempt something real
Along this path:
Take your spouse or lover into your arms
The way you did when you first met.
Let tenderness pour from your eyes
The way the Sun gazes warmly on the earth.
Play a game with some children.
Extend yourself to a friend.
Sing a few ribald songs to your pets and plants –
Why not let them get drunk and wild!
Let's toast
Every rung we've climbed on Evolution's ladder.
Whisper, "I love you! I love you!"
To the whole mad world.
Let's stop reading about God -
We will never understand Him.
Jump to your feet, wave your fists,
Threaten and warn the whole Universe
That your heart can no longer live
Without real love!
11
Awake Awhile
Awake awhile.
It does not have to be
Forever,
Right now.
One step upon the Sky's soft skirt
Would be enough.
Hafiz,
Awake awhile.
Just one True moment of Love
Will last for days.
Rest all your elaborate plans and tactics
For Knowing Him,
For they are all just frozen spring buds
Far,
So far from Summer's Divine Gold.
Awake, my dear.
Be kind to your sleeping heart.
Take it out into the vast fields of Light
And let it breathe.
Say,
"Love,
Give me back my wings.
Lift me,
Lift me nearer."
Say to the sun and moon,
Say to our dear Friend,
"I will take You up now, Beloved,
On that wonderful Dance You promised!"
12
I Know the Way You Can Get
I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:
Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.
Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.
Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one's self
O I know the way you can get
If you have not been out drinking Love:
You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.
You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.
You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
Trusted.
13
I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love's
Hands.
That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep Remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.
That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me,
For I am a Sweet Old Vagabond
With an Infinite Leaking Barrel
Of Light and Laughter and Truth
That the Beloved has tied to my back.
Dear one,
Indeed, please bring your heart near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!
All a Sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love!
14
The Only Sin I Know
If someone sits with me
And we talk about the Beloved,
If I cannot give his heart comfort,
If I cannot make him feel better
About himself and this world,
Then, Hafiz,
Quickly run to the mosque and pray -
For you have just committed
The only sin I know.
15
Laughter
What is laughter? What is laughter?
It is God waking up! O it is God waking up!
It is the sun poking its sweet head out
From behind a cloud
You have been carrying too long,
Veiling your eyes and heart.
It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure
That is your Real body- called Truth.
It is happiness applauding itself and then taking flight
To embrace everyone and everything in this world.
Laughter is the polestar
Held in the sky by our Beloved,
Who eternally says,
"Yes, dear ones, come this way,
Come this way toward Me and Love!
Come with your tender mouths moving
And your beautiful tongues conducting songs
And with your movements - your magic movements
Of hands and feet and glands and cells - Dancing!
Know that to God's Eye,
All movement is a Wondrous Language,
And Music - such exquisite, wild Music!"
O what is laughter, Hafiz?
What is this precious love and laughter
Budding in our hearts?
It is the glorious sound
Of a soul waking up!
16
From ‘Tonight the Subject is Love’
At this Party
I don’t want to be the only one here
Telling all the secrets -
Filling up all the bowls at this party,
Taking all the laughs.
1 would like you
To start putting things on the table
That can also feed the soul
The way 1 do.
That way We can invite
A hell of a lot more
Friends.
17
No Other Kind of Light
Find that flame, that love,
That Wonderful Man
Who can bum beneath the water.
No other kind of light
Will cook the food you
Need.
18
Not With Wings
Here soar
Not with wings
But with your moving hands and feet
And sweating brows –
Standing by your Beloved’s side
Reaching out to comfort this world
With your cup of solace
Drawn from your vast reservoir of Truth.
Here soar
Not with your eyes and senses
That turn their backs
On the earth’s sweet stumbling dance
Which needs you.
Here love, O here love,
With your mouth tender and open upon your lover,
And with your heart on duty
To the souls of rivers, children, forest animals,
All the shy feathered ones and laughing, jumping,
Shining fish.
O here, pilgrim,
Love
On this holy battleground of life
Where there are bleeding men
Who are calling for a sacred drink,
A gentle word or touch from man
Or God.
19
Hafiz! why just serve and play with angels?
They are already content.
Brew your knowledge well for men
With aching minds and guts!
And for those wayfarers who have gained
The rare courageous thirsts
That can never be relinquished
Until Union!
Hafiz!
Leave your recipes in golden drums.
Tie those barrels to the backs of camels
Who will keep circumambulating the worlds,
Giving nourishment
To all our tender wondrous spheres.
O here love, O love right here.
Find your happiness, dear wayfarer,
With your beautiful lips and body
So sweetly opened,
Yielding their vital gifts upon
This magnificent
Earth.
20
Venus Just Asked Me
Perhaps
For just one minute out of the day,
It may be of value to torture yourself
With thoughts like,
“I should be doing
A hell of a lot more with my life than I am -
Cause I’m so damn talented.”
But remember,
For just one minute out of the day.
With all the rest of your time,
It would be best
To try
Looking upon your self more as God does.
For He knows
Your true royal nature.
God is never confused
And can see Only Himself in you.
My dear,
Venus just leaned down and asked me
To tell you a secret, to confess
She’s just a mirror who has been stealing
Your light and music for centuries.
She knows as does Hafiz,
You are the sole heir to
The King.
21
Ten Thousand Idiots
It is always a danger
To the aspirant
On the
Path
When one begins
To believe and
Act
As if the ten thousand idiots
Who so long ruled
And lived
Inside
Have all packed their bags
And skipped town
Or
Died .
22
From ‘The Gift’
My spring eyes still warm faces, and awake verdant earths in your soul.
A Poet
A Poet is someone
Who can pour light into a cup,
Then raise it to nourish
Your beautiful parched, holy mouth.
23
LOOKING FOR GOOD FISH
Why complain about life
If you are looking for good fish
And have followed some idiot
Into the middle of the copper market?
Why go crazy
If you are looking for fine silk
And you keep rubbing your hands against
Burlap and hemp sacks?
If your heart really needs to touch a face
That is filled with abundance
Then why didn't you come to this
Old Man sooner?
For my cheek is the universe's cloister
And if you can make your prayers sweet enough
Tonight
Then Hafiz will lean over and offer you
All the warmth in my body
In case God is busy
Doing something else
Somewhere.
Why complain if you are looking
To quench your spirit's longing
And have followed a rat into a desert.
If your soul really needs to touch a face
That is always filled with compassion
And tenderness
Then why,
Why my dear
Did you not come to your friend Hafiz
Sooner?
24
WE HAVE NOT COME TO
TAKE PRISONERS
We have not come here to take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.
We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love.
Run my dear,
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.
Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision
Of your beautiful heart.
We have a duty to befriend
Those aspects of obedience
That stand outside of our house
And shout to our reason
"O please, O please,
Come out and play."
For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits,
But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom, and
Light!
25
I RAI N
I rain
Because your meadows call
For God.
I weave light into words so that
When your mind holds them
Your eyes will relinquish their sadness,
Turn bright, a little brighter, giving to us
The way a candle does
To the dark.
I have wrapped my laughter like a birthday gift
And left it beside your bed.
I have planted the wisdom in my heart
Next to every signpost in the sky.
A wealthy man
Often becomes eccentric,
A divine crazed soul
Is transformed into infinite generosity
Tying gold sacks of gratuity
To the dangling feet of moons, planets, ecstatic
Midair dervishes, and singing birds.
I speak
Because every cell in your body
Is reaching out
For God.
26
GOD JUST CAME NEAR
No
One
In need of love
Can sit with my verse for
An hour
And then walk away without carrying
Golden tools,
And feeling that God
Just came
Near.
27
THE SUN NEVER SAYS
Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,
“You owe
Me.”
Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.
28
WHY JUST ASK THE DONKEY
Why
Just ask the donkey in me
To speak to the donkey in you,
When I have so many other beautiful animals
And brilliant colored birds inside
That are all longing to say something wonderful
And exciting to your heart?
Let's open all the locked doors upon our eyes
That keep us from knowing the Intelligence
That begets love
And a more lively and satisfying conversation
With the Friend.
Let's turn loose our golden falcons
So that they can meet in the sky
Where our spirits belong -
Necking like two
Hot kids.
Let's hold hands and get drunk near the sun
And sing sweet songs to God
Until He joins us with a few notes
From His own sublime lute and drum.
If you have a better idea
Of how to pass a lonely night
After your glands may have performed
All their little magic
Then speak up sweethearts, speak up,
For Hafiz and all the world will listen.
Why just bring your donkey to me
Asking for stale hay
29
And a boring conference with the idiot
In regards to this precious matter –
Such a precious matter as love,
When I have so many other divine animals
And brilliant colored birds inside
That are all longing
To so sweetly
Greet
You!
30
You carry all the ingredients
To turn your existence into joy,
Mix them, mix
Them!
31
CURFEWS
Noise
Is a cruel ruler
Who is always imposing
Curfews,
While
Stillness and quiet
Break open the vintage
Bottles,
Awake the real
Band.
32
Art is the conversation between lovers.
Art offers an opening for the heart.
True art makes the divine silence in the soul
Break into applause.
Art is, at last, the knowledge of
Where we are standing –
Where we are standing
In this Wonderland
When we rip off all our clothes
And this blind man's patch, veil,
That got tied across our brow.
Art is the conversation between lovers.
True art awakes the
Extraordinary
Ovation.
33
THE VINTAGE MAN
The
Difference
Between a good artist
And a great one
Is:
The novice
Will often lay down his tool
Or brush
Then pick up an invisible club
On the mind's table
And helplessly smash the easels and
Jade.
Whereas the vintage man
No longer hurts himself or anyone
And keeps on Sculpting
Light.
34
JUST LOOKING FOR TROUBLE
I once had a student
Who would sit alone in his house at night
Shivering with worries
And fears,
And, come morning,
He would often look as though
He had been raped
By a ghost.
Then one day my pity
Crafted for him a knife
From my own divine sword.
Since then,
I have become very proud
Of this student.
For now, come night,
Not only has he lost all his fear,
Now he goes out
Just looking for
Trouble.
35
The Gift
Our
Union is like this:
You feel cold
So I reach for a blanket to cover
Our shivering feet.
A hunger comes into your body
So I run to my garden
And start digging potatoes.
You ask for a few words of comfort and guidance,
I quickly kneel at your side offering you
This whole book-
As a gift.
You ache with loneliness one night
So much you weep
And I say,
Here's a rope,
Tie it around me,
Hafiz
Will be your companion
For life.
36
THE SCENT OF LIGHT
Like a great starving beast
My body is quivering
Fixed
On the scent
Of
Light.
37
THE STAIRWAY OF EXISTENCE
We
Are not
In pursuit of formalities
Or fake religious Laws,
For through the stairway of existence
We have come to God's
Door.
We are
People who need to love, because
Love is the soul's life,
Love is simply creation's greatest joy.
Through
The stairway of existence,
O, through the stairway of existence, Hafiz,
Have
You now come,
Have we all now come to
The Beloved's
Door.
38
Behind the veil Hafiz and angels sometimes weep
Because most eyes are rarely glad
And your divine beauty is still too frightened
To unfurl its thousand swaying arms.
39
STOP BEING SO RELIGIOUS
What
Do sad people have in
Common?
It seems
They have all built a shrine
To the past
And often go there
And do a strange wail and
Worship.
What is the beginning of
Happiness?
It is to stop being
So religious
Like
That.
40
IT FELT LOVE
How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened.
41
TWO BEARS
Once
After a hard day's forage
Two bears sat together in silence
On a beautiful vista
Watching the sun go down
And feeling deeply grateful
For life.
Though, after a while
A thought-provoking conversation began
Which turned to the topic of
Fame.
The one bear said,
"Did you hear about Rustam?
He has become famous
And travels from city to city
In a golden cage;
He performs to hundreds of people
Who laugh and applaud
His carnival
Stunts."
The other bear thought for
A few seconds
Then started
Weeping.
42
THE WARRIOR
The warriors tame
The beasts in their past
So that the night's hoofs
Can no longer break the jeweled vision
In the heart.
The intelligent and the brave
Open every closet in the future and evict
All the mind's ghosts who have the bad habit
Of barfing everywhere.
For a long time the Universe
Has been germinating in your spine
But only a Pir* has the talent,
The courage to slay
The past-giant, the future-anxieties.
The warrior
Wisely sits in a circle
With other men
Gathering the strength to unmask
Himself,
Then
Sits, giving,
Like a great illumined planet on
The
Earth.
* Persian: Saint
43
Tiny Gods
Some gods say, the tiny ones,
"1 am not here in your vibrant, moist lips
That need to beach themselves upon
The golden shore of a
Naked body."
Some gods say, "I am not
The scarred yearning in the unrequited soul;
I am not the blushing cheek
Of every star and
Planet-
I am not the applauding Chef
Of those precious secretions that can distill
The whole mind into a perfect wincing jewel, if only
For a moment;
Nor do 1 reside in every pile of sweet warm dung
Born of the earth's
Gratuity."
Some gods say, the ones we need to hang,
"Your mouth is not designed to know His,
Love was not born to consume
The luminous
Realms."
Dear ones,
Beware of the tiny gods frightened men
Create
To bring an anesthetic relief
To their sad
Days.
44
ELEGANCE
It
Is not easy
To stop thinking ill
Of others.
Usually one must enter into a friendship
With a person
Who has accomplished that great feat himself
Then
Something
Might start to rub off on you
Of that
True
Elegance.
45
DROPPING KEYS
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
46
Spiced Manna
Someone
Will steal you if you don't
Stay near,
And sell you as a slave in the
Market.
I sing
To the nightingales' hearts
Hoping they will learn
My verse
So that no one will ever imprison
Your brilliant angel
Feathers.
Have I put enough spiced manna
On your plate
Tonight
In this Tavern
Where Hafiz
Serves?
If not please wait
For more light is now
Fermenting.
Someone will steal you if you
Don't stay near,
And sell you as a slave in
The market,
So your Beloved and I
Sing.
47
BECOMING HUMAN
Once a man came to me and spoke for hours about
"His great visions of God" he felt he was having.
He asked me for confirmation, saying,
"Are these wondrous dreams true?"
I replied, "How many goats do you have?"
He looked surprised and said,
"I am speaking of sublime visions
And you ask
About goats!"
And I spoke again saying,
"Yes, brother – how many do you have?"
"Well, Hafiz, I have sixty-two."
'And how many wives?"
Again he looked surprised, then said,
"Four."
"How many rose bushes in your garden,
How many children,
Are your parents still alive,
Do you feed the birds in winter?"
And to all he answered.
Then I said,
"You asked me if I thought your visions were true,
I would say that they were if they make you become
More human,
More kind to every creature and plant
That you know."
48
THE THOUSAND-STRINGED INSTRUMENT
The heart is
The thousand-stringed instrument.
Our sadness and fear come from being
Out of tune with love.
All day long God coaxes my lips
To speak,
So that your tears will not stain
His green dress.
It is not that the Friend is vain,
It is just your life we care about.
Sometimes the Beloved
Takes my pen in hand,
For Hafiz is just a simple man.
The other day the Old One
Wrote on the Tavern wall:
"The heart is
The thousand-stringed instrument
That can only be tuned with
Love.”
49
The God Who Only Knows
Four Words
Every
Child
Has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don'ts,
Not the God who ever does
Anything weird,
But the God who only knows four words
And keeps repeating them, saying:
"Come dance with Me."
Come
Dance.
50
THE DIAMOND TAKES SHAPE
Some parrots
Have become so skilled with
The human voice
They could give a brilliant discourse
About freedom and God
And an unsighted man nearby might
Even begin applauding with
The thought:
I just heard jewels fall from a
Great saint's mouth,
Though my Master used to say,
"The diamond takes shape slowly
With integrity's great force,
And from
The profound courage to never relinquish love."
Some parrots have become so skilled
With words,
The blind turn over their gold
And lives to caged
Feathers.
51
WHAT IS THE ROOT?
What
Is the
Root of all these
Words?
One thing: love.
But a love so deep and sweet
It needed to express itself
With scents, sounds, colors
That never before
Existed.
52
TROUBLED?
Troubled?
Then stay with me, for I'm not.
Lonely?
A thousand naked amorous ones dwell in ancient caves
Beneath my eyelids.
Riches?
Here's a pick,
My whole body is an emerald that begs,
“Take me.”
Write all that worries you on a piece of parchment;
Offer it to God.
Even from the distance of a millennium
I can lean the flame in my heart
Into your life
And turn
All that frightens you
Into holy
Incense
Ash.
53
ACT GREAT
What is the key
To untie the knot of your mind's suffering?
What
Is the esoteric secret
To slay the crazed one whom each of us
Did wed
And who can ruin
Our heart's and eye's exquisite tender
Landscape?
Hafiz has found
Two emerald words that
Restored
Me
That I now cling to as I would sacred
Tresses of my Beloved's
Hair:
Act great.
My dear, always act great.
What is the key
To untie the knot of the mind's suffering?
Benevolent thought, sound
And movement.
