HAFIZ - A POEM

tomb of hafiz, shiraz, iran

IN A HANDFUL OF GOD

                               by Hafiz (1320-1389)

Poetry reveals that there is no empty space.

When your truth foresakes its shyness,

When your fears surrender to your strengths,

 You will begin to experience

That all existence

Is a teeming sea of infinite life.

In a handful of ocean water

You could not count all the finely tuned

Musicians

Who are acting stoned

For very intelligent and sane reasons

ANd of course are becoming extremely sweet

And wild.

In a handful of the sky and earth,

In a handful of God,

We cannot count

All the ecstatic lovers who are dancing there

Behind the mysterious veil.

True art reveals there is no void

Or darkness.

There is no loneliness to the clear-eyed mystic

In this luminous, brimming

Playful world.

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                                    tr  by H. Wilberforce Clarke

                                 and Daniel Ladinsky

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