Hafiz - "With That Moon Language"

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?

-Hafiz, tr by Daniel Ladinsky, in Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West

Hafiz - "God eavesdrops"

God Eavesdrops

What an opportunity two hearts have whenever they talk.
For when our words are loving, playful and encouraging,
God cannot help but eavesdrop even more than usual.
And then, of course, the odds increase on the divine being
felt.

from A Year With Hafiz, Daily Contemplations
rendering by Daniel Ladinsky copyright 2009

Hafiz

God was full of Wine last night,
So full of Wine

That He let a great secret slip.

He said:

There is no man on this earth
Who needs a pardon from Me -
For there is really no such thing,
No such thing
As Sin!

The Beloved has gone completely Wild-
He has poured Himself into me!

I am Blissful and Drunk and Overflowing.

Dear world,
Draw life from my Sweet Body.

Dear wayfaring souls,
Come drink your fill of liquid rubies,
For God has made my heart
An Eternal Fountain!

Hafiz and Emerson (a translation by Emerson?)

“FROM HAFIZ”–a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

"FROM HAFIZ."

I said to the heaven that glowed above,
O hide yon sun-filled zone,
Hide all the stars you boast;
For, in the world of love
And estimation true,
The heaped-up harvest of the moon
Is worth one barley-corn at most,
The Pleiads’ sheaf but two.

Hafiz, "It is Unanimous"

IT IS UNANIMOUS
Hafiz
It is unanimous where I come from.
Everyone agrees on one thing:

It’s no fun
When God is not near.

All are hunters.
The wise man learns the Friend’s weaknesses
And sets a clever trap

Listen,
The Beloved has agreed to play a game
Called
Love.

Our sun sat in the sky
Way before this earth was born
Waiting to caress a billion faces.

Hafiz encourages all art.

For at its height it brings Light near
To us.

The wise man learns what draws God
Near.

It is the beauty of compassion
In your heart.

Written by the 13th century Persian poet, Hafiz.

Hafiz

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.

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 on your friendship!

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!

~Hafiz, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

Hafiz

GREAT POEMS

O Master, You are so gracious. After all these years You still
Remember who I am: the one who wears the dust of Your door like a crown.

Tell me, who taught You to be so generous to Your slaves?
Don't worry, I won't tell those spies who are watching Your every move.

O Holy Bird, please bless this path I'm on,
For I'm new to this traveling, and it's a long way I have to go.

O morning breeze, take my prayers to the Master,
And tell Him that each day I am on my knees at dawn.
I yearn for the day when I will leave this house and head out on the road.
When that day comes, friends will wonder where I've gone.

O give me the secret map to the place where I can drink wine with You,
For in that place only can I be drunk, and in my drunkenness be free.

Only great poems can capture the hearts of those who don't read;
So poets, sing! Let the God-of-Oceans fill your mouth with pearls.

O Hafiz, if you are seeking the pearl of union, do this:
From tears, make yourself an ocean and then dive!

Hafiz (1310-1369),Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved: Poems of Hafiz

Hafiz

A Suspended Blue Ocean

"The sky
Is a suspended blue ocean.
The stars are the fish
That swim.

The planets are the white whales
I sometimes hitch a ride on,

And the sun and all light
Have forever fused themselves

Into my heart and upon
My skin.

There is only one rule
On this Wild Playground,

For every sign Hafiz has ever seen
Reads the same.

They all say,

"Have fun, my dear; my dear, have fun,
In the Beloved's Divine
Game,

O, in the Beloved's
Wonderful Game."


From: 'The Subject Tonight Is Love' by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.
- Hafiz

The way you make love is the way
God will be with you.
- Rumi

“Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.”
- Rumi

“In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you.”
- Hafiz

One day You will take my heart completely and make it more fiery than a dragon. Your eyelashes will write on my heart the poem that could never come from the pen of a poet.
- Hafiz

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 does
Anything Weird,
But the God who only knows four words
And keeps repeating them, saying:
“Come Dance with Me.”
Come
Dance.
- Hafiz

This Sky
This
Sky
Where we live
Is no place to lose your wings
So love, love,
Love.
- Hafiz

Translated by Gertrude Lowthian Bell 1897

" NOT one is filled with madness like to mine
In all the taverns! my soiled robe lies here,
There my neglected book, both pledged for wine.
With dust my heart is thick, that should be clear,
A glass to mirror forth the Great King's face;
One ray of light from out Thy dwelling-place
To pierce my night, oh God! and draw me near "

- Hafiz

That Magnificent Storm
By Hafiz
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Sitting here
Loving like this

Alone again
In God's valley
After that magnificent storm
Of Your presence just
Passed.

I am like an elegant cypress
Whose face and form
Your beauty
Ruined.

Why not
Accuse You of infidelity
Or much
Worse

When every
Lover of God in this world
Would gladly
Testify

On
My
Behalf.

The Happy Virus

I caught the happy virus last night

When I was out singing beneath the stars.

It is remarkably contagious -

So kiss me.

~ Hafiz

Without Brushing My Hair

The

Closer

I get to you, Beloved,

The more I can see

It is just You and I all alone

In this

World.

I hear

A knock at my door,

Who else could it be,

So I rush without brushing

My hair.

For too

Many nights

I have begged for Your

Return

And what

Is the use of vanity

At this late hour, at this divine season,

That has now come to my folded

Knees?

If your love letters are true dear God

I will surrender myself to

Who you keep saying

I

Am.

~ Hafiz, The Garden of Heaven: Poems of Hafiz (Dover Thrift Editions)

This

Path to God

Made me such an old sweet beggar.

I was starving until one night

My love tricked God Himself

To fall into my bowl.

Now Hafiz is infinitely rich,

But all I ever want to do

Is keep emptying out

My emerald filled

Pockets

Upon

This tear stained

World.

- from: The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz.