Poetry of Hafez

“My body melts for the absence of the lover;
my soul afire for a glimpse of the face of my beloved.”

“Start seeing God in everything, but keep it a secret.”

“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.”

“Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.”

“Your heart and my heart are very, very old friends.”

“Your love should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger, only to someone who has the valour and daring to live pieces from their soul with a blade and weave them into a blanket to protect you.”

“My lover’s sadness lit a fire in my hear that
burned by chest,
there was a fire in his house that burned the nest.”

“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being”

“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 that.”

“Come to my door at any hour.
My heat and arms are
open, and need no rest.
They will always welcome you.”

“I long for You so much I follow barefoot Your
frozen tracks
That are high in the mountains that I know
are years old.
I long for You so much I have even began to
travel where I have never been before.”

“And still, after all this time, the Sun has never said
to the Earth, ‘You owe me.’
Look what happens with love like that.
It lights up the sky.”

“Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.”

“Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.”

“I have estimated the influence of Reason upon Love and found that it is like that of a raindrop upon the ocean.”

“I have no use for divine patience – My lips are now burning and everywhere. I am running from every corner of this earth and sky, wanting to kiss you.”

“The path of love is full of
trouble and conflict, oh heart.
Anyone who hurries
along this path. will stumble,
Don’t trade begging at the
beloved’s door for the sultanate,
Has anyone gone from the
shade of this door to the Sun?”

“Come, tell me what it is that
I have gained
from loving you”

“That moment that I am with you for a year, is a day.
That moment that I am without for a moment, is a year.
Since I only dream of being you in my sleep
When I sleep, my eyes see nothing but a dream.”

“Today no suffering, no suffering”

“One with such beauty none will make.
When her garments off we take
You can see her heart in her fragile breast,
like a hard rock in a clear lake.”

“Time is a factory where everyone slaves away
Earning enough love to break their own chains.”

“You can buy everyone with gold;
Either in one shot, or slowly are sold.
Even the narcissus, pride of the world,
Sold itself, why, its crown of gold behold.”

What Has Been Given?

When you were born God brought you so many of gifts
that you will never open them all.
Love’s voice keeps saying, “Everything I have is yours.”
So why do you still feel this pain?
Your soul long ago drowned in the middle of a vast sea
while you pretend to be thirsty.
Life’s infinite song pours through you
yet you hold your breath to squeeze it inside.
God kisses you awake every morning
but you insist on sleeping and sleeping.
Hafiz can only smile.

Losing Yourself

To really lose yourself is like holding a gun to your head
and pulling the trigger – it takes courage.
Facing the truth means tying a bag over your head
until you suffocate – it takes faith.
You have to be brave to follow God’s tracks into the unknown
where so many new things overwhelm and panic you.
But trust me and plunge the jewelled dagger into your heart.
This is what it takes to lose yourself.
There is no other path back to God.