10-MAR-2011
A Tethered Falcon
My heart sits on the arm of God
Like a tethered falcon
Suddenly unhooded.
I am now blessedly crazed
Because my Master's astounding effulgence
Is in constant view.
My piercing eyes,
Which have searched every world
For tenderness and love,
Now look on the royal target -
The wild holy One
Whose beauty illuminates existence.
I am a tethered falcon
With great wings and sharp talons poised,
Every sinew taut, like a sacred bow,
Quivering at the edge of my Self
And eternal freedom,
Though still held in check
By a miraculous
Divine golden cord.
Beloved,
I am waiting for You to free me
Into your mind
And infinite Being.
I am pleading in absolute helplessness
To hear, finally, your words of grace:
Fly! Fly into Me!
Hafiz,
Who can understand
Your sublime Nearness and Separation?
(Hafiz)
'I Heard God Laughing' by Daniel Ladinsky)
28-MAR-2011
"I am waiting for happiness," she said.
And I replied,
"I can open a sacred drawer in you
and there will be
all the gold and joy,
and companionship
you could ever want."
(Hafiz)
Translation by Daniel Ladinsky
07-AUG-2010
YOU DON'T HAVE TO ACT CRAZY ANYMORE
You don't have to act crazy anymore -
we all know you were good at that.
Now retire, my dear,
from all that hard work you do
Of bringing pain to your sweet eyes and heart.
Look in a clear mountain mirror -
see the beautiful ancient warrior
and the divine elements
you always carry inside
That infused this universe with sacred life
so long ago
And join you eternally
with all existence - with God!
(Hafiz)
'I Heard God Laughing' by Daniel Ladinsky
25-DEC-2009
THAT DOES PERISH
The
Earth would die
If the sun stopped kissing her.
Hafiz is now such an exquisite world
That perishes
When God is not
Near.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
22-DEC-2007
I HAVE COME INTO THIS WORLD TO SEE THIS
I have come into this world to see this:
the sword drop from men's hands even at the height
of their arc of anger
because we have finally realized there is just one flesh to wound
and it is His - the Christ's, our
Beloved's.
I have come into this world to see this: all creatures hold hands as
we pass through this miraculous existence we share on the way
to even a greater being of soul,
a being of just ecstatic light, forever entwined and at play
with Him.
I have come into this world to hear this:
every song the earth has sung since it was conceived in
the Divine's womb and began spinning from
His wish,
every song by wing and fin and hoof,
every song by hill and field and tree and woman and child,
every song of stream and rock,
every song of tool and lyre and flute,
every song of gold and emerald
and fire,
every song the heart should cry with magnificent dignity
to know itself as
God;
for all other knowledge will leave us again in want and aching -
only imbibing the glorious Sun
will complete us.
I have come into the world to experience this:
men so true to love
they would rather die before speaking
an unkind
word,
men so true their lives are His covenant -
the promise of
hope.
I have come into this world to see this:
the sword drop from men's hands
even at the height of
their arc of
rage
because we have finally realized
there is just one flesh
we can wound.
(Hafiz)
"Love Poems From God" translation by Daniel Ladinsky
05-SEP-2009
True art reveals there is no void
Or darkness
There is no loneliness to the clear-eyed mystic
In this luminous, brimming
Playful world.
(Hafiz)
'The Subject Tonight Is Love' by Daniel Ladinsky
29-JUL-2009
From a sacred crevice in your body
A bow rises each night
And shoots your soul into God.
(Hafiz)
18-JUL-2009
I SAW YOU DANCING
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 the 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 feels your soul in mine
Calling for our
Beloved.
(Hafiz)
'The Subject Tonight Is Love' by Daniel Ladinsky
31-JUL-2009
FAITHFUL LOVER
The moon came to me last night
With a sweet question.
She said,
"The sun has been my faithful lover
For millions of years.
Whenever I offer my body to him
Brilliant light pours from his heart.
Thousands then notice my happiness
And delight in pointing
Toward my beauty.
Hafiz,
Is it true that our destiny
Is to turn into Light
Itself?"
And I replied,
Dear moon,
Now that your love is maturing,
We need to sit together
Close like this more often
So I might instruct you
How to become
Who you
Are!
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
02-JUL-2009
THE WOMAN I LOVE
Because the woman I love lives
inside of you,
I lean as close to your body with my words
as I can -
and I think of you all the time, dear pilgrim.
Because the One I love goes with you
wherever you go,
Hafiz will always be near.
If you sat before me, wayfarer,
with your aura bright from your many
charms,
my lips could resist rushing to you and needing
to befriend your blushed cheek,
but my eyes can no longer hide
the wondrous fact of who
you really are.
The beautiful One whom I adore
has pitched His royal tent inside of you,
so I will always lean my heart
as close to your soul
as I can.
(Hafiz)
'The Subject Tonight Is Love' by Daniel Ladinsky
27-MAY-2009
THE FISH AND I WILL CHAT
Once
In a while
The fish and I will chat
In the silent
Language:
We look
Into each other's eyes and smile,
And they often
Say,
"Hey, Hafiz
We see you know the joy of
Our existence,
We see you have discovered how meditation
Can free you from land,
Mind, debts, alimony - the
Whole works,
And like
Us
Let you carouse all day
In
God."
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
