precious gift

No, I was not busy when you came!

I was not preparing to be busy.

That's the armour everyone puts on

to pretend they had a purpose in the world. 

Naomi Shihab Nye

excerpt: Red Brocade

The most precious gift you can give

to the one you love is your true presence. 

Do you have enough time to love?

My dear, I am here for you.  

Thich Nhat Hanh

True Love 

... Why not become the one who lives

with the 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

Photo:  Peter Bowers

the place where you are right now

The place where you are right now

God circled on a map for you

wherever your eyes and arms and heart can move

Against the earth and the sky,

the beloved has bowed there-

The beloved has bowed there knowing

You were coming…

Hafiz

photo:  Peter Bowers

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

Translation:  Daniel Ladinsky

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Laughter

What is laughter? What is laughter?

It is God waking up!  O it is God waking up! 

It is the sun poking its sweet head out

From behind a cloud

You have been carrying too long,

Veiling your eyes and heart

It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure

That is your Real body - called Truth.

It is happiness applauding itself and then taking flight

To embrace everyone and everything in this world.

Laughter is the polestar

Held in the sky by our Beloved,

Who eternally says,

"Yes, dear ones, come this way,

Come this way toward Me and Love!

Come with your tender mouths moving

And your beautiful tongues conducting songs

And with your movements - your magic movements

Of hands and feet and glands and cells - Dancing! 

Know that to God's Eye, 

All movement is a Wondrous Language,

And Music - such exquisite, wild Music!"

O what is laughter, Hafiz?

What is this precious love and laughter

Budding in our hearts?

It is the glorious sound

Of a soul waking up! 

Hafiz

I Heard God Laughing 

Daniel Ladinsky

Photo:  Peter Bowers

nothing into nothing

 

Dance.

A thousand times I have ascertained

and found it to be true:  the affairs of

this world are really nothing into

nothing.

Still though, we should dance.

Hafiz
Photo:  Peter Morgan

And When She Began to Sing

And then she began to sing, and when 

she began to sing, 

there was no one who really heard her

who was not then glad to be alive. 

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers

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 the 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

I wish I could speak like music

I wish I could speak like music.  I wish I could put

the swaying splendor of fields into words so that

you could hold Truth against your body and dance.

I am trying the best I can with this crude brush, 

the tongue, to cover you with light.  I wish I could

speak like divine music.  I want to give you the

sublime rhythms of this earth and sky's limbs

as they joyously spin and surrender, surrender

against God's luminous breath.  Hafiz wants you

to hold me against your precious body and dance, 

dance.

Hafiz

Lying beside my wife

Once when I was awake and lying beside

my wife, she whispered in her sleep, "Hafiz, 

I love you."

I don't think I would trade having heard her

soul speak that way, even for all of heaven

saying the same thing.

But is there a difference?  I think loving is

always God, showing us It is here, as much

as the formless can reach into our world. 

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers

I Am So Glad

Start seeing everything as God, 

But keep it a secret.

Become like a man who is Awestruck

And Nourished

Listening to a Golden Nightingale

Sing in a beautiful foreign language

While God invisibly nests 

Upon its tongue.

Hafiz,

Who can you tell in this world

That when a dog runs up to you

Wagging its ecstatic tail,

You lean down and whisper in its ear,

"Beloved,

I am so glad You are happy to see me,

Beloved,

I am so glad,

So very glad You have come."

Hafiz

There is a Wonderful Game

There is a game we should play,

And it goes like this:

We hold hands and look into each other's eyes

And scan each other's face.

Then I say,

"Now tell me a difference you see between us."

And you might respond,

"Hafiz, your nose is ten times bigger then mine!"

Then I would say,

"Yes, my dear, almost ten times!"

But let's keep playing.

Let's go deeper,

Go deeper.

For if we do,

Our spirits will embrace

And interweave.

Our union will be so glorious

That even God

Will not be able to tell us apart.

There is a wonderful game

We should play with everyone

And it goes like this......

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers

The Subject Tonight is Love

The subject tonight is Love

And for tomorrow night as well,

As a matter of fact

I know of no better topic

For us to discuss

Until we all 

Die! 

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Becoming Human

Once a man came to me and spoke for hours about

"His great visions of God" he felt he was having.

He asked me for confirmation, saying,

"Are these wondrous dreams true?"

I replied, "How many goats to you have?"

He looked surprised and said,

"I am speaking of sublime visions

And you ask

About goats!"

And I spoke again saying,

"Yes, brother - how many do you have?"

"Well, Hafiz, I have sixty two."

"And how many wives?"

Again he looked surprised, then said, 

"Four."

"How many rose bushes in your garden,

How many children,

Are your parents still alive,

Do you feed the birds in winter?"

And to all he answered.

Then I said,

"You asked me if I thought your visions were true,

I would say that they were if they  make you become

More human,

More kind to every creature and plant

That you know."

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers

When the Violin

When

The violin

Can forgive the past

It starts singing.

When the violin can stop worrying

About the future

You will become

Such a drunk laughing nuisance

That God

Will then lean down

And start combing you into 

His

Hair.

When the violin can forgive

Every wound caused by

Others

The heart starts

Singing.

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers

In a Handful of God

Poetry reveals that there is no empty space.

When your truth forsakes it shyness,

When your fears surrender to your strengths,

You will begin to experience

That all existence

Is a teeming sea of infinite life,

In a handful of ocean water

You could not count all the finely tuned

Musicians

Who are acting stoned

For very intelligent and sane reasons

And of course are becoming extremely sweet

And wild.

In a handful of the sky and earth,

In a handful of God,

We cannot count

All the ecstatic lovers who are dancing there

Behind the mysterious veil.

True art reveals there is no void

Or darkness.

There is no loneliness to the clear-eyed mystic

In this luminous, brimming

Playful world.

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Because of Our Wisdom

In many parts of this world water is

Scarce and precious.

People sometimes have to walk

A great distance

Then carry heavy jugs upon their

Heads.

Because of our wisdom, we will travel

Far for love.

All movement is a sign of

Thirst.

Most speaking really says,

"I am hungry to know you."

Every desire of your body is holy;

Every desire of your body is

Holy.

Dear one,

Why wait until you are dying

To discover that divine

Truth?

Hafiz

Photo:  Peter Bowers



It happens all the time in heaven

It happens all the time in heaven,

And some day

It will begin to happen

Again on earth -

That men and women who are married,

and men and men who are

Lovers,

And women and women

Who give each other

Light,

Often will get down on their knees

And while so tenderly

Holding their lover's hand,

With tears in their eyes,

Will sincerely speak, saying,

"My dear,

How can I be more loving to you;

How can I be more

Kind?"

Hafiz