Admit something...by Hafiz

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 a 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
from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz,
transl. Daniel Ladinsky.

Covers Her Face With Both Hands....by Hafiz

What
We speak
Becomes the house we live in.

Who will want to sleep in your bed
If the roof leaks
Right above
It?

Look what happens when the tongue
Cannot say to kindness,

“I will be your slave.”

The moon
Covers her face with both hands

And can't bear
To look.

~ Hafiz
from Daniel Ladinsky’s book, The Gift: Poems by HAFIZ.

When love beckons to you, follow him...by Kahlil Gibran

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height
and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you
that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness
and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh,
but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say,
"God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart
and a song of praise upon your lips.

~ Kahlil Gibran
( on Love )

A life without love is a waste. .....Rumi

A life without love is a waste. 

“Should I look for spiritual love, 
or material, or physical love?”, 

don’t ask yourself this question. 

Discrimination
leads to discrimination.

Love doesn’t need any name,
category or definition.

Love is a world itself.

Either you are in,
at the center…

either you are out,
yearning.

~ Rumi
Divan e Shams Tabrizi

Narrow the Difference....by Hafiz

When I play my lute,
The invisible ones call a conference,

And the angels travel far knowing
A rare entertainment will soon take place.

When I play my drum, my notes become so real
The winged ones throw saddles upon them;
An outrageous holy rodeo begins.

No one has ever sat with Hafiz
And not left for the better.

No one can read my poems out loud
In a tender, loving voice
And not narrow the difference,
Not narrow the gap,
Between you and God.

I have many younger brothers and sisters
Scattered upon this earth.

There are always friends of God in this world.
Find one and offer service.
For their glance is generous and cannot help
but forever give.

When Hafiz plays his lute,
My notes ascend into the air and form
Infinite blue crystals

That will move on the wind's breath for hundreds of years
As my sacred debris, as the divine dust
Rising as a gift from my
singing bones.

~ Hafiz
(Narrow the Difference)
The Subject Tonight Is Love
60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz,
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

The subject tonight is Love....by Hafiz

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

Build a House for Men and Birds....by Hafiz

You have taken root in the Beloved
I love your golden branches

And the hundred graceful movements
Your body now makes each time
The wind, children and love
Come near.

Build a house for men and birds.
Sit with them - play music.
For a day, for just one day,
Talk about that which disturbs no one

And bring some peace into your
Beautiful eyes.
Why play notes from your soft mouth-flute
That hurt the Blue Sky's ear?

The Friend has such exquisite taste
That every time you bow to Him
Your mind will become lighter and more
Refined;
Your spirit will prepare its voice to laugh
In an outrageous freedom.

You have taken root in our Beloved.
I love your emerald branches
And the hundred ways your heart does dance
Every time you discover God is so pleased
Because His hands are always playing catch
With your soul.

We all cook together around a fire
Our Yearning music builds.
We share our tools and instruments and plates;
We are companions on this earth
As the sun and planets are in the sky.

We are all sentries at our sacred humble posts.
The stones and stars envy the movements
Of your legs and tongue
And call to you to sing on their behalf.

The atoms in your cells and limbs are full of
wonderful talents;
They dance in the Hidden Choir I conduct.
Don't sleep tonight, dear pilgrim,
So I can lead you on my white mare to His summer
House.

This Love you now have of the Truth
Will never forsake you.

Your joys and sufferings on this arduous path
Are lifting your worn veil like a rising stage
curtain
And will surely reveal your Magnificent Self

So that you can guide this world like Hafiz
In the Hidden Choir
God and His friends will forever
Conduct.

~ Hafiz
(Build a House for Men and Birds)
The Subject Tonight Is Love
60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz,
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Art by Will Lewis