The gift, p.5
The Gift, page 5
With the sometimes difficult task of loving you.
At least come to know
That someone untied your camel last night
For I hear its gentle voice
Calling for God in the desert.
At least come to know
That Hafiz will always hold a lantern
With galaxies blooming inside
And that
I will always guide your soul to
The divine warmth and exhilaration
Of our Beloved’s
Tent.
WHEN I WANT TO KISS GOD
When
No one is looking
I swallow deserts and clouds
And chew on mountains knowing
They are sweet
Bones!
When no one is looking and I want
To kiss
God
I just lift my own hand
To
My
Mouth.
FOR A SINGLE TEAR
I
Know of beauty
That no one has ever
Known.
How could that be possible
When I may seem
So new in infinite time?
It is because God belongs to only you!
Did you hear that?
Did you hear what Hafiz just said?
God belongs to only you!
It is the only reasonable payment
For a single
Tear.
THAT SHAPES THE EYE
Children
Can easily open the
Drawer
That lets the spirit rise up and wear
Its favorite costume of
Mirth and laughter.
When the mind is consumed with
Remembrance of
Him
Something divine happens to the
Heart
That
Shapes the hand and tongue
And eye into
The word
Love.
SO MANY GIFTS
There are so many gifts
Still unopened from your birthday,
There are so many hand-crafted presents
That have been sent to you by God.
The Beloved does not mind repeating,
“Everything I have is also yours.”
Please forgive Hafiz and the Friend
If we break into a sweet laughter
When your heart complains of being thirsty
When ages ago
Every cell in your soul
Capsized forever
Into this infinite golden sea.
Indeed,
A lover’s pain is like holding one’s breath
Too long
In the middle of a vital performance,
In the middle of one of Creation’s favorite
Songs.
Indeed, a lover’s pain is this sleeping,
This sleeping,
When God just rolled over and gave you
Such a big good-morning kiss!
There are so many gifts, my dear,
Still unopened from your birthday.
O, there are so many hand-crafted presents
That have been sent to your life
From God.
L OVE IS THE FUNERAL PYRE
Love is
The funeral pyre
Where I have laid my living body.
All the false notions of myself
That once caused fear, pain,
Have turned to ash
As I neared God.
What has risen
From the tangled web of thought and sinew
Now shines with jubilation
Through the eyes of angels
And screams from the guts of
Infinite existence
Itself.
Love is the funeral pyre
Where the heart must lay
Its body.
ALLAH, ALLAH, ALLAH
Now
The sky-drum plays
All by itself in my head
Singing all day long
“Allah, Allah,
Allah.”
FIVE
Don’t Die Again
I am a man
Who knows the ten thousand positions of
Divine love.
I can tell by the light in your eyes
That you are still most familiar
With the few earthly ones,
But would not a good father
Instruct all his heirs
Toward that path that will someday
Deeply satisfy?
This world is a treacherous place
And will surely slay and drown the lazy.
The only life raft here is love
And the Name.
Say it brother,
O, say the divine Name, dear sister,
Silently as you walk.
Don’t die again
With that holy ruby mine inside
Still unclaimed
When you could be swinging
A golden pick with
Each
Step.
LIKE A LIFE-GIVING SUN
You could become a great horseman
And help to free yourself and this world
Though only if you and prayer become sweet
Lovers.
It is a naive man who thinks we are not
Engaged in a fierce battle,
For I see and hear brave foot soldiers
All around me going mad,
Falling on the ground in excruciating pain.
You could become a victorious horseman
And carry your heart through this world
Like a life-giving sun
Though only if you and God become sweet
Lovers!
THE GREAT WORK
Love
Is the great work
Though every heart is first an
Apprentice
That slaves beneath the city of Light.
This wondrous trade,
This magnificent throne your soul
Is destined for—
You should not have to think
Much about it,
Is it not clear
An apprentice needs a teacher
Who himself
Has charmed the universe
To reveal its wonders inside his cup.
Happiness is the great work,
Though every heart must first become
A student
To one
Who really knows
About Love.
EFFACEMENT
Effacement
Is a golden gun.
It was not easy to hold it against my head
And fire!
I needed great faith in my master
To suffocate myself
With his holy bag
Full of truth.
I needed great courage
To go out into the dark
Tracking God into the unknown
And not panic or get lost
In all the startling new scents, sounds,
Sights,
Or lose my temper
Tripping on those scheming
Night and day around me.
Hafiz,
Effacement is the emerald dagger
You need to plunge
Deep into yourself upon
This path to divine
Recovery—
Upon this path
To God.
SOME FILL WITH EACH GOOD RAIN
There are different wells within your heart.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far too deep for that.
In one well
You have just a few precious cups of water,
That “love” is literally something of yourself,
It can grow as slow as a diamond
If it is lost.
Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a
Stranger,
Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.
There are different wells within us.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far, far too deep
For that.
THE VINTAGE MAN
The
Difference
Between a good artist
And a great one
Is:
The novice
Will often lay down his tool
Or brush
Then pick up an invisible club
On the mind’s table
And helplessly smash the easels and
Jade.
Whereas the vintage man
No longer hurts himself or anyone
And keeps on
Sculpting
Light.
EVERYWHERE
Running
Through the streets
Screaming,
Throwing rocks through windows,
Using my own head to ring
Great bells,
Pulling out my hair,
Tearing off my clothes,
Tying everything I own
To a stick,
And setting it on
Fire.
What else can Hafiz do tonight
To celebrate the madness,
The joy,
Of seeing God
Everywhere!
LIFTS BEYOND CONCEPTION
Independent
Of this body is my mind
When the call from the Golden Nightingale
Lifts and pours my being throughout
The Sky.
Independent of this mind is my
Heart
When God unfurls even a shadow of His tress
Upon my bare shoulder.
Sovereign of my illumined heart
Is the indivisible knowledge
In the gaze of my spirit’s wings climbing to
Such a sublime height they each
Become the Sun
Itself
And reside—perched beyond every throne
Known to man.
Hafiz,
This Sufi path of love is so astoundingly
Glorious
That
One day each
Wayfarer upon it will become
The Inconceivable—
The Creator of God
Himself.
GOD’S BUCKET
If this world
Was not held in God’s bucket
How could an ocean stand upside down
On its head and never lose a drop?
If your life was not contained in God’s cup
How could you be so brave and laugh,
Dance in the face of death?
Hafiz,
There is a private chamber in the soul
That knows a great secret
Of which no tongue can speak.
Your existence my dear, O love my dear,
Has been sealed and marked
“Too sacred,” “too sacred,” by the Beloved—
To ever end!
Indeed God
Has written a thousand promises
All over your heart
That say,
Life, life, life,
Is far too sacred to
Ever end.
JUST LOOKING FOR TROUBLE
I once had a student
Who would sit alone in his house at night
Shivering with worries
And fears,
And, come morning,
He would often look as though
He had been raped
By a ghost.
Then one day my pity
Crafted for him a knife
From my own divine sword.
Since then,
I have become very proud
Of this student.
For now, come night,
Not only has he lost all his fear,
Now he goes out
Just looking for
Trouble.
SIX
The Gift
Our
Union is like this:
You feel cold
So I reach for a blanket to cover
Our shivering feet.
A hunger comes into your body
So I run to my garden
And start digging potatoes.
You ask for a few words of comfort and guidance,
I quickly kneel at your side offering you
This whole book—
As a gift.
You ache with loneliness one night
So much you weep
And I say,
Here’s a rope,
Tie it around me,
Hafiz
Will be your companion
For life.
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.
LIFE STARTS CLAPPING
Wherever
God lays His glance
Life starts
Clapping.
The
Myriad
Creatures grab their instruments
And join the
Song.
Whenever love makes itself known
Against another
Body
The
Jewel in the eye starts
To
Dance.
THE FOUNDATION FOR GREATNESS
Greatness
Is always built upon this foundation:
The ability
To appear, speak, and act
As the most
Common
Man.
COURTEOUS TO THE ANT
God
Blooms
From the shoulder
Of the
Elephant
Who becomes
Courteous
To
The
Ant.
HIS WINTER CROP
I have
