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I'm happy even before I have a reason
I'm full of Light even before the sky
Can greet the sun or the moon.
Dear companions, we have been in love with God
For so very, very long.
What can we now do but forever Dance!
SOMEONE SHOULD START LAUGHING
I have a thousand brilliant lies for the question:
How are you?
I have a thousand brilliant lies for the question:
What is God?
If you think that the Truth can be known from words,
If you think that the Sun and the Ocean can pass through that tiny opening called the mouth,
O someone should start laughing!
Someone should start wildly Laughing,Now!
THE GREAT SECRET
God was full of Wine last night, so full of wine that He let a great secret slip.
He said: There is no man on earth who needs a pardon from Me -
For there is really no such thing, no such thing as sin!
That Beloved has gone completely wild.
He has poured Himself into me!
I am blissful and drunk and overflowing.
Dear world, draw life from my sweet body,
Dear wayfaring souls, come drink your fill of liquid rubies,
For God has made my heart
An Eternal Fountain!
A GOLDEN COMPASS
Forget every idea of right and wrong any classroom ever taught you
Because an empty heart, a tormented mind, unkindness, jealousy and fear
Are always the testimony you have been completely fooled!
Turn your back on those who would imprison your wondrous spirit
With deceit and lies.
Come, join the honest company of the King’s beggars -
Those gamblers, scoundrels and divine clowns and those astonishing fair courtesans
Who need Divine Love every night.
Come, join the courageous who have no choice but to bet their entire world
That indeed, indeed, God is real.
I will lead you into the circle of the Beloved’s cunning thieves,
Those playful royal rogues, the ones you can trust for true guidance -
Who can aid you in this blessed calamity of life.
Hafiz, look at the Perfect One at the circle’s center:
He spins and whirls like a Golden Compass, beyond all that is rational,
To show this dear world that everything, everything in existence
Does point to God.
I KNOW THE WAY YOU CAN GET
I know the way you can get when you have not had a drink of Love:
Your face hardens, your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned about a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror and nose.
Squirrels and birds sense your sadness and call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant to help your mind and soul.
Even angels fear that brand of madness that arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into the innocent and into one’s self.
O I know the way you can get if you have not been drinking Love:
You might rip apart every sentence your friends and teachers say, looking for hidden clauses.
You might weigh every word on a scale like a dead fish.
You might pull out a ruler to measure from every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once trusted.
I know the way you can get if you have not had a drink from Love’s hands.
That is why all the Great Ones speak of the vital need to keep remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him as being so playful and wanting, just wanting to help.
That is why Hafiz says: bring your cup near me, for all I care about is quenching
your thirst for freedom!
All a sane man can ever care about is giving Love!
SEVERAL TIMES IN THE LAST WEEK
Ever since happiness heard your name it has been running through the streets trying to find you.
And several times in the last week, God Himself has even come to my door
Asking me for your address!
Once I said, “God, I thought You knew everything. Why are You asking me where
Your lovers live?”
And the Beloved replied, “Indeed, Hafiz, I do know everything.
But it is fun playing dumb once in a while. And I love intimate chat
And the warmth of your heart’s fire.”
Maybe we should make this poem into a song, I think it has potential!
How far does this refrain sound, for I know it is a Truth:
Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets
Trying to find you.
And several times in the last week, God Himself has come to my door,
So sweetly asking for your address, wanting the beautiful warmth of your heart’s fire.
THE ONLY ONE
From man’s perspective in this intricate game of love,
It is so easy to become confused and think you are the doer.
But from God’s infinite certainty,
He always Knows that He is the only one
Who should ever be put on trial.
SILENCE
A day of Silence can be a pilgrimage in itself.
A day of Silence can help you listen to the soul play
Its marvelous lute and drum.
Is not most talking a crazed defense of a crumbling fort?
I thought we came here to surrender in Silence,
To yield to light and happiness,
To Dance within
In celebration of Love’s Victory!
WHY CARRY?
Hafiz,
Why carry a whole load of books upon your back
Climbing this mountain, when tonight,
Just a few thoughts of God
Will light the holy fire.
MY BRILLIANT IMAGE
One day the sun admitted,
I am just a shadow.
I wish I could show you the infinite incandescence
That has cast my brilliant image!
I wish I could show you,
When you are lonely or in darkness,
The astonishing Light
Of your own Being!
CAST ALL YOUR VOTES FOR DANCING
I know the voice of depression still calls to you.
I know those habits that can ruin your life still send their invitations.
But you are with the Friend now and look so much stronger.
You can stay that way and even bloom!
Keep squeezing drops of the Sun from your prayers and work and music
And from your companions' beautiful laughter.
Keep squeezing drops of the Sun from the sacred hands and glance of your Beloved
And, my dear, from the most insignificant movements of your own holy body.
Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins that may buy you just a moment of pleasure,
But then drag you for days like a broken man behind a farting camel.
You are with the Friend now.
Learn what actions of yours delight Him, what actions of yours
Bring freedom and Love.
Whenever you say God's name, dear pilgrim, my ears wish my head was missing
So they could finally kiss each other and applaud all your nourishing wisdom!
O keep squeezing drops of the Sun from your prayers and work and music
And from your companions' beautiful laughter and from the most insignificant
movements of your own holy body.
Now, sweet one,
Be wise.
Cast all your votes for Dancing!
ZERO
Zero is where the real fun starts.
There's too much counting
Everywhere else!
AWAKE AWHILE
Awake awhile.
It does not have to be forever, right now.
One step upon the sky's soft skirt would be enough.
Hafiz, awake awhile.
Just one true moment of Love will last for days.
Rest all your elaborate plans and tactics for knowing Him,
For they are all just frozen spring buds.
Far, so far from summer's Divine gold.
Awake, my dear.
Be kind to your sleeping heart.
Take it out into the vast fields of Light and let it breathe.
Say, "Love, give me back my wings.
Lift me, lift me nearer."
Say to the sun and moon, say to our dear Friend,
"I will take You up now, Beloved,
On that wonderful Dance You promised!"
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!
AT THIS PARTY
At this party I don’t want to be the only one here
Telling all the secrets.
Filling up all the bowls at this party, taking all the laughs.
I would like you to start putting things on the table
That can also feed the soul the way I do.
That way we can invite
A hell of a lot more friends.
NO OTHER KIND OF LIGHT
Find that flame, that love,
That wonderful Man
Who can burn beneath the water.
No other kind of light
Will cook the food you need.
VENUS JUST ASKED ME
Perhaps for just one minute out of the day,
It may be of value to torture yourself with thoughts like,
“I should be doing a hell of a lot more with my life than I am -
Because I’m so damn talented.”
But remember, for just one minute out of the day.
With all the rest of your time, it would be best
To try looking upon your self more as God does.
For He knows your true royal nature.
God is never confused and can see only Himself in you.
My dear,venus just leaned down and asked me to tell you a secret,
To confess She’s just a mirror who has been stealing
Your light and music for centuries.
She knows, as does Hafiz,
You are the sole heir to the King.
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.
STOP BEING SO RELIGIOUS
What do sad people have in common?
It seems they have all built a shrine to the past
And often go there and do a strange wail and worship.
What is the beginning of happiness?
It is to stop being so religious like them
IT FELT LOVE
How did the rose ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its being,
Otherwise, we all remain too frightened.
THE THOUSAND-STRINGED INSTRUMENT
The heart is the thousand-stringed instrument.
Our sadness and fear come from being
Out of tune with love.
All day long God coaxes my lips to speak,
So that your tears will not stain His green dress.
It is not that the Friend is vain, it is just your life we care about.
Sometimes the Beloved takes my pen in hand,
For Hafiz is just a simple man.
The other day the Old One wrote on the Tavern wall:
"The heart is the thousand-stringed instrument
That can only be tuned with Love.”
THE GOD WHO ONLY KNOWS FOUR WORDS
Every child has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don'ts,
Not the God who ever does anything weird.
But the God who only knows four words
And keeps repeating them, saying:
"Come dance with Me."
Come dance.
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