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.
‘The Gift – Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master’
translations by Daniel Ladinsky
A day on the beach with Hafiz
Fell upon Hafiz for the first time years ago whilst on a short break with a bunch of friends. One of the group was returning a host of books to someone at the university. The books were numerous copies of ‘I Heard God Laughing’ and ‘The Subject Tonight is Love’ by Hafiz. As soon as I started to read them the world seemed to dissappear. I excused myself from the happy holiday gang and spent the entire day on the beach with Hafiz – crying from the soles of my feet and what felt like everybody elses feet, wailing to the wind – not a living soul around – no need to supress the sobs- nothing quite like it – a divine catharsis. Heres to empty beaches and divine poetry.
Comment by St Andrews beach — December 28, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
OMG! This is so sweet, i have to memorize a poem that is 14+ lines and i am so using it and i don’t even care that it’s only 14 lines
Comment by lizzy stevens — January 5, 2009 @ 4:21 am
i love the first bit, but don’t quite understand what he means by ‘..who is always laughing at the word two’
great poem nonetheless
Comment by Divya Mathew — December 6, 2009 @ 2:32 pm