Friday, August 29, 2014
Hafiz--versions from Daniel Ladinsky
WHAT THE HELL
The
Real love
I always keep a secret.
All my words
Are sung outside Her window,
For when She lets me in
I take a thousand oaths of silence.
But,
Then She says,
O, then God says,
"What the hell, Hafiz,
Why not give the whole world
My
Address"
THE GREAT RELIGIONS
The
Great religions are the
Ships,
Poets the life
Boats.
Every sane person I know has jumped
Overboard.
That's good for business
Isn't it
Hafiz?
I AM A HOLE IN A FLUTE
I am
A hole in a flute
That Christ's breath moves through -
Listen to this
Music.
I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself
A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,
a Buddhist, a Jew.
The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me
That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even a pure
Soul.
Love has
Befriended Hafiz so completely
It has turned to ash
And freed
Me
Of every concept and image
my mind has ever known.
From: 'The Gift'
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
(Hafiz was a Persian mystical poet who lived from 1325 –1389. His name indicates that he had memorized the whole of the Koran.)
(picture found on internet)
