Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Hafiz -- a poem

Don't surrender your loneliness
So quickly. 
Let it cut more deep.

Let it ferment and season you
As few human
Or even divine ingredients can.

Something missing in my heart tonight
Has made my eyes so soft, 
My voice
So tender,

My need of God
Absolutely
Clear. 

7 comments:

pj said...

The Sufi poets never fail to give me the scalp-pricklies.

Yep.

lauraj said...

I went out and bought two Hafiz books today and spent an hour absolutely absorbed tonight. This made me think of you:

A poet is someone
who can pour light into a spoon,
then raise it
to nourish
your beautiful, parched, holy mouth.

And then I went to the opera (gettin' me some culture on dress rehearsal pay-what-you-can night) -- The Barber of Seville -- but had to leave at intermission because my poor doggie had the runs all over my house tonight. I'm sitting here with doors open, candles and incense burning, hoping the stench will subside so I can sleep.

pj said...

Bless you, sweetie. My poetry has more in common with your doggie's output than with a spoonful of light, however. :/

lauraj said...

Oh, don't give me that s&*t! (tee hee)

Diane M. Roth said...

wow. just reading Acts, Peter's sermon, and thinking about "they were cut to the heart...".... loneliness "cuts into you".

Jane R said...

Beautiful, lj. I'm always astounded how Hafiz gets worlds, and so deeply, into so few words. And manages to express what our hearts feel.

Maya Pavlova must know, because she just jumped up on the desk and has her nose on my hand. She sends her best to you -- and to Resident Canine.

lauraj said...

Diane, now that I've read your recent poem, I can direct the Hafiz quote about poets to you, as well. Nicely done!

Jane, you know, his words were apparently mostly from the oral tradition and not written down for a couple of generations, kind of like Jesus. So the words we get are a composite of his original, passed orally and then written down, and now translated into modern tongues. I feel like he provided the spark and the poems we get are a beautiful community effort.