Ecstatic Cling
Hi All.
I'm at work, and don't have access to my poetry files so I'm posting a guest poem today.
Ghazals are one of my favorite forms of poetry, and in particular, Hafiz makes me smile, laugh, and cry.
It was hard to pick one, so here are two short ghazals by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
Enjoy,
Cindy
I Knew We Would Be Friends
As soon as you opened your mouth
And I heard your soft
Sounds,
I knew we would be
Friends.
The first time, dear pilgrim, I heard
You laugh,
I knew it would not take me long
To turn you back into
God.
Old Sweet Beggar
This
Path to God
Made me such an old sweet beggar.
I was starving until one night
My love tricked God Himself
To fall into my bowl.
Now Hafiz is infinitely rich,
But all I ever want to do
Is keep emptying out
My emerald-filled
Pockets
Upon
This tear-stained
World.
I'm at work, and don't have access to my poetry files so I'm posting a guest poem today.
Ghazals are one of my favorite forms of poetry, and in particular, Hafiz makes me smile, laugh, and cry.
It was hard to pick one, so here are two short ghazals by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
Enjoy,
Cindy
I Knew We Would Be Friends
As soon as you opened your mouth
And I heard your soft
Sounds,
I knew we would be
Friends.
The first time, dear pilgrim, I heard
You laugh,
I knew it would not take me long
To turn you back into
God.
Old Sweet Beggar
This
Path to God
Made me such an old sweet beggar.
I was starving until one night
My love tricked God Himself
To fall into my bowl.
Now Hafiz is infinitely rich,
But all I ever want to do
Is keep emptying out
My emerald-filled
Pockets
Upon
This tear-stained
World.
posted by Cindy St. Onge at 2:01 PM
2 Comments:
Interesting, but I really can't say I'm a fan. Don't like the "Pilgrim" usage, nor the god references. I'm an angry whore.
Different strokes.
If you like, or have read Whitman, you'll notice similarities to Hafiz's poetry.
Hafiz saw god in everything, in everyone, as did Whitman. And both poets write about the interconnectedness of all life, and that separation is delusion. Once the delusion falls away, one experiences an ecstatic awakening. That ecstasy is evident in the writings of both men.
I hope you're not turned off by what may look like the Abrahamic tradition of duality, i.e. supplicant/deity, slave/master. That certainly isn't the intended spirit of any of his poems.
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