Monday, July 18, 2005

I have found Hafiz.

1. Still upset over book.
2. Still happy over certain totally unexpected romance in book. (not the one you're thinking about, either)
3. Still hoping reasonable explanation will be given in next book for actions of certain characters who really devastated disappointed me.
4. Still hoping things are not as they seem to be.

5 Grooving over Hafiz. Thank you, sweet Belle, for the tip. And thank you, Daniel Ladinsky.

I do despise bad poetry, however famous it might be. And I do adore the good stuff, by which I mean anything I personally like. Wanna fight over that? These verses are not Prince Hamlet, nor do they attempt to be. They are attendant lords, ones that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two, advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool, deferential, glad to be of use, politic, cautious, and meticulous; full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; at times, indeed, almost ridiculous–almost, at times, the Fool.

Yes, I totally stole that last sentence and worked it to my will. Now here's a little Hafiz. Read it and think.

==

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe
Me."
Look
What happens
With a love like that:
It lights the
Whole
Sky.

==

Good
Poetry
Makes the universe admit a
Secret:
"I am
Really just a tambourine,
Grab hold
Play me
Against your warm
Thigh."

==

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.

==

Out
Of a great need
We are all holding hands
And climbing.
Not loving is a letting go.
Listen,
The terrain around here
Is
Far too
Dangerous
For
That.

==

The intelligent man
Quickly realizes
The impotence
Of
Gold.

==

Now
That
All your worry
Has proved such an
Unlucrative
Business,
Why
Not
Find a better
Job.

==

Everyone
Is God speaking.
Why not be polite and
Listen to
Him?

==

I am
A hole in a flute
That the Christ's breath moves through -
Listen to this
Music.

==

If God
Invited you to a party
And said,
"Everyone
In the ballroom tonight
Will be my special
Guest,"
How will you then treat them
When you
Arrive?
Indeed, indeed!
And Hafiz knows
There is no one in this world
Who
Is not upon
His Jeweled Dance
Floor.

==

Burn
Every address for
God.
Any
Beloved
Who has just one color of hair;
One gender, one race,
The same suntan all the time,
One rule book,
Trust me when I say,
That man is not even
Half a god
And will only
Cause you
Grief.

==

Great? Not really. Profound? To me, yes. Do I like them? Yes. They make me think.

And for this mood, this moment, they are just right.

Who can say why any thing is 'just right?' We can only do that for ourselves, and sometimes we don't know till the moment is gone.

I don't know what is just right for you. I only know that words that affect my mind and my emotions are just right for me.

I have hated books that most people thought were wonderful. And I have adored books that most people thought were shit. Nobody can choose for someone else.

That holds true for more than books, too.