THE STAIRWAY OF EXISTENCE

We are not in pursuit of formalities
Or fake religious laws,

For through the stairway of existence
We have come to God's door.

We are people who need to love,
Because love is the soul's life.

Love is simply creation's greatest joy.

Through the stairway of existence,
O, through the stairway of existence, Hafiz,

Have you now come, have we all now come
To the Beloved's door.

~Hafiz

Thank you very much, Inda.
Hafiz is another poet I like a lot.
This is a nice selection.

Sincerely,
Gisele

What's better than an afternoon dedicated to poetry ... such as this?
Standing at the Beloved's door together ..... in awe!
Love, Margherita

On a dolphin’s back
I ride my ocean of tears
she giggles me through

senryu by Margherita

This is beautiful.

Thank you Inda for sharing.

Love,
Sylvie

This is very beautiful.
I don't think I want to start my work;
I would much rather stay here and read beautiful poetry, and look at beautiful images.

Christina

Let Thought Become Your
Beautiful Lover
Let thought become the beautiful Woman.
Cultivate your mind and heart to that depth
That it can give you everything
A warm body can.
Why just keep making love with God's child-- Form
When the Friend Himself is standing
Before us
So open-armed?
My dear,
Let prayer become your beautiful Lover
And become free,
Become free of this whole world
Like Hafiz.



From: 'The Gift'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Laughing At the Word Two



Only



That Illumined

One



Who keeps

Seducing the formless into form



Had the charm to win my

Heart.



Only a Perfect One



Who is always

Laughing at the word

Two



Can make you know



Of



Love.



From: 'The Gift'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

This has got to be one of the oldest posts.
Thank you Sue for adding to it.

Love,
Vicky

I've Said It Before and I'll Say It Again
I've said it before and I'll say it again:

It's not my fault that with a broken heart, I've gone this way.

In front of a mirror they have put me like a parrot,
And behind the mirror the Teacher tells me what to say.

Whether I am perceived as a thorn or a rose, it's
The Gardener who has fed and nourished me day to day.


O friends, don't blame me for this broken heart;
Inside me there is a great jewel and it's to the Jeweler's shop I go.

Even though, to pious, drinking wine is a sin,

Don't judge me; I use it as a bleach to wash the color of hypocrisy away.


All that laughing and weeping of lovers must be coming from some other place;

Here, all night I sing with my winecup and then moan for You all day.


If someone were to ask Hafiz, "Why do you spend all your time sitting in

The Winehouse door?," to this man I would say, "From there, standing,

I can see both the Path and the Way.


From: Drunk on the Wind of the Beloved
Hafiz

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

We Might Have To
Medicate You


Resist your temptation to lie
By speaking of separation from God,

Otherwise,
We might have to medicate
You.

In the ocean
A lot goes on beneath your eyes.

Listen,
They have clinics there too

For the insane
Who persist in saying things like:

"I am independent from the
Sea,

God is not always around

Gently
Pressing against
My body."

Hafiz

From: 'The Gift'
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Like The Morning Breeze

Like the morning breeze, if you bring to the morning good deeds,
The rose of our desire will open and bloom.

Go forward, and make advances down this road of love;
In forward motion, the pain is great.

To beg at the door of the Winehouse is a wonderful alchemy.

If you practice this, soon you will be converting dust into gold.

O heart, if only once you experience the light of purity,

Like a laughing candle, you can abandon the life you live in your head.


But if you are still yearning for cheap wine and a beautiful face,

Don't go out looking for an enlightened job.
Hafiz, if you are listening to this good advice,

The road of Love and its enrichment are right around the curve.

Hafiz

From: Drunk on the Wind of the Beloved
Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

No More Leaving

At

Some point

Your relationship

With God

Will

Become like this:


Next time you meet Him in the forest

Or on a crowded city street


There won't be anymore


"Leaving."

That is,



God will climb into

Your pocket.


You will simply just take

Yourself

Along!


Hafiz
From: 'The Gift'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I see you girls have been busy bringing back old posts.

I love the eastern poets.
Thank you for adding to Hafiz's writings.

Hafiz, a Sufi poet, expressed in poetry love for the divine, and the intoxicating oneness of union with it. Hafiz, along with many Sufi masters, uses wine as the symbol for love.

Sincerely,
Gisele