26-JUL-2008
LOVE IS THE FUNERAL PYRE
Love is
The funeral pyre
Where I have laid my living body.
All the false notions of myself
That once caused fear, pain,
Have turned to ash
As I neared God.
What has risen
From the tangled web of thought and sinew
Now shines with jubilation
Through the eyes of angels
And screams from the guts of
Infinite existence
Itself.
Love is the funeral pyre
Where the heart must lay
Its body.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
06-AUG-2008
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.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
31-JUL-2008
THE MOUNTAIN GOT TIRED OF SITTING
The sun
Won a beauty contest and became a jewel
Set upon God's right hand.
The earth agreed to be a toe ring on the
Beloved's foot
And has never regretted its decision.
The mountains got tired
Of sitting amongst a sleeping audience
And are now stretching their arms
Toward the Roof.
The clouds gave my soul an idea
So I pawned my gills
And rose like a winged diamond
Ever trying to be near
More love, more love
Like you.
The Mountain got tired of sitting
Amongst a snoring crowd inside me
And rose like a ripe sun
Into my eye.
My soul gave my heart a brilliant idea
So Hafiz is rising like a
Winged diamond.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
26-JUL-2008
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.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
07-FEB-2008
LAUGHING AT THE WORD TWO
Only
That Illumined
One
Who keeps
Seducing the formless into form
Had the charm to win my
Heart.
Only a Perfect One
Who is always
Laughing at the word
Two
Can make you know
Of
Love.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
09-JUL-2008
STAY CLOSE TO THOSE SOUNDS
The sun turns a key in a lock each day
As soon as it crawls out of bed.
Light swings open a door
And the many kinds of love rush out
Onto the infinite green field.
Your soul sometimes plays a note
Against the Sky's ear that excites
The birds and planets.
Stay close to any sounds
That make you glad you are alive.
Everything in this world is
Helplessly reeling.
An invisible wake was created
When God said to His beautiful dead lover,
"Be."
Hafiz, who will understand you
If you do not explain that last line?
Well then,
I will sing it this way,
When God said to Illusion,
"Be."
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
14-JUL-2008
TO BUILD A SWING
You carry
All the ingredients
To turn your life into a nightmare -
Don't mix them!
You have all the genius
To build a swing in your backyard
For God.
That sounds
Like a hell of a lot more fun.
Let's start laughing, drawing blueprints,
Gathering your talented friends.
I will help you
With my divine lyre and drum.
Hafiz
Will sing a thousand words
You can take into your hands,
Like golden saws,
Silver hammers,
Polished teakwood,
Strong silk rope.
You carry all the ingredients
To turn your existence into joy,
Mix them, mix
Them!
(hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
19-JUN-2008
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.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
07-JUL-2008
THIS CONSTANT YEARNING
We are
Like lutes
Once held by God.
Being away from His warm body
Fully explains
This
Constant
Yearning.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
20-JUN-2008
IN NEED OF THE BREATH
My heart
Is an unset jewel
Upon the tender night
Yearning for its dear old friend
The Moon.
When the Nameless One debuts again
Ten thousand facets of my being unfurl wings
And reveal such a radiance inside
I enter a realm divine -
I too begin so sweetly cast light,
Like a lamp,
Through the streets of this
World.
My heart is an unset jewel
Upon existence
Waiting for the Friend's touch.
Tonight
My heart is an unset ruby
Offered bowed and weeping to the Sky.
I am dying in these cold hours
For the resplendent glance of God.
I am dying
Because of a divine remembrance
Of who - I really am.
Hafiz, tonight,
Your soul
Is a brilliant reed instrument
In need of the breath of the
Christ.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
23-JUN-2008
It was beautiful,
It was so beautiful one night
We all began expecting to hear
God speak
In the waves reaching toward
The millet fields,
From the mouths of the hanging sky-ornaments
Crooning in light's intimate codes,
From the glances of plants and children
Playing with effulgent love.
Existence was so beautiful one night
We all began to expect
Our Beloved would
Speak
At the height of our wing's senses
That were stunned
Trying to comprehend the divine
Through the tiny organic
Filters,
That were stunned in glimpsing the reality
Of the thousand miraculous components
Of each moment
And step.
But we can't,
We can't yet hear God whistling inside,
So we weep.
We will all weep in some way
Until we
Do.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky
17-JUN-2008
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.
(Hafiz)
'The Gift' Poems by Hafiz - translations by Daniel Ladinsky