The incomparable 14th century Persian Sufi Poet, Hafiz Shirazi
Would You Think It Odd?
Would you think it odd if Hafiz said,
I am in love with every Church
And mosque
And Temple
And any kind of Shrine
Because I know it is there
That the people say the different names
Of the One Love
Would you tell your friends
I was a bit strange if I admitted
I am indeed in love with every mind
And heart and body.
Because I know
That it is through these
That you search for Love.
I Have Learned so Much
I have learned so much from Love
That I can no longer call myself
a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew.
The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me
That I can no longer call myself
a man, a woman, an angel, or even a pure soul.
Love has befriended Hafiz so completely.
It has turned to ash and freed me
Of every concept and image my mind has ever known.
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.
Don't Despair...
Joseph to his father in Canaan shall return,
don't despair walk on;
and Jacob's hut will brighten with flowers,
don't despair walk on.
Aching hearts heal in time, vanished hopes reappear,
the disparate mind will be pacified,
don't despair walk on.
As the spring of life grows the newly green meadow,
roses will crown the sweet nightingale's song,
don't despair walk on
If the world does not turn to your whims these few days,
cosmic cycles are preparing to change,
don't despair walk on.
If desperation whispers you'll never know God,
it's the talk of hidden games in the veil,
don't despair walk on.
O heart, when the vast flood slashes life to its roots,
Captain Noah waits to steer you ashore, don't despair walk on.
If you trek as a pilgrim through sands to Kaabeh
with thorns lodged deep in your soul shouting why,
don't despair walk on
Though oases hide dangers and your destiny's far,
there's no pathway that goes on forever,
don't despair walk on.
My trials and enemies face me on their own,
but mystery always backs up my stand,
don't despair walk on.
Hafez, weakened by poverty, alone in the dark,
this night is your pathway into the light,
don't despair walk on.
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.
Now is the Time
Now is the time to know
That all that you do is sacred.
Now, why not consider
A lasting truce with yourself and Love.
Now is the time to understand
That all your ideas of right and wrong
Were just a child's training wheels
To be laid aside
When you finally live
With veracity
And love.
Hafiz is a divine envoy
Whom the Beloved
Has written a holy message upon.
My dear, please tell me,
Why do you still
Throw sticks at your heart
And Love?
What is it in that sweet voice inside
That incites you to fear?
Now is the time for the world to know
That every thought and action is sacred.
This is the time for you to compute the impossibility
That there is anything
But Grace.
Now is the season to know
That everything you do
Is sacred.
Last Night's Storm
Last night's storm was a journey to the Beloved.
I surrender to that, the wind that
is my Friend, and my work.
Each night, the lightning flashes.
Every morning, a breeze.
Not in some protected place, but in the flood
of the heart's pumping, in the wind
of a rosebud's opening out,
that puts a small crown on each narcissus.
A tired hand collapses, exhausted,
that in the morning holds your hair again.
Peace comes when we are friends together,
remembering. Hafiz! Your honest desire
and your benevolence free the soul
to emerge as what it is.
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 Love!
The Danger
Love seems easy in a circle of friends,
But it's difficult, difficult.
Morning air through the window, the taste of it,
with every moment camel bells leaving the caravansary.
This is how we wake, with wine-spills
On the prayer rug, and even the tavern-master
is loading up. My life has gone
From willfulness to disrepute,
And I won't conceal, either, the joy
That led me out toward laughter.
Mountainous ocean, a moon hidden behind clouds,
The terror of being drawn under.
How can someone with a light shoulder-pack
Walking the beach know how a night sea-journey is?
Hafiz! Stay in the dangerous life that's yours.
THERE you'll meet the face
That dissolves fear.