On My Heart Today, These Poems

These particular poems of the 14th-century Sufi poet, Hafiz, are on my heart and mind today. At one time or another, for one reason or another, I have claimed them on this space before. Today I claim them anew, just because it's today and today has its reasons, because they are still there and a gift to me.

The Heart is Right*

The heart is right

To cry

Even when the smallest drop of light,

Of love,

Is taken away.

Perhaps you may kick, moan, scream

In dignified

Silence.

But you are so right

To do so in any fashion

Until God returns

To you.


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 awhile.

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.


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...

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 the

Sacred mind and life.

Surely

there is something wrong

With your ideas of

God

If you think

If you think our beloved would not be so

Tender.


Just You and Me*

The closer

I get to You, Beloved,

The more I can see

It is just You and me 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.


*from The Gift (1999), poetry ascribed to Hafiz, as freely interpreted by Daniel Ladinsky.

**from I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy (1996, 2006), poetry ascribed to Hafiz, as freely interpreted by Daniel Ladinsky.