A Tree You Can Wind Around

A Tree You Can Wind Around

You are like a wisteria vine in a meadow.

You will naturally climb to the highest point

as soon as you are able, and then offer

your brilliant color and scents to the world

the best you can when your tendencies ripen

and the temporal and eternal spring dawns.

Yes, when your season comes,

if a tree were near your arms you would move

towards it as if you were in love,

sensing some potential of giving and receiving more,

achieving your destiny, hanging from the sky.

When you bloom, is it not clear that you will offer

so much to the world to be harvested?

All your limbs, my dear, can entwine with a pillar

of a kindred spirit, like me, and rise and rise and rise

until no one on earth can see you anymore,

for there is no limit to our height.

There are so many ways to touch the world,

if you sing, your sounds will press against

my cheek in a way I desire

if you dance, I will become the ground you bless

as happiness does for this world

if you make love with another form and can satisfy it

any sighs of respite are also mine.

This is just the way things have become

waltzing towards the heart’s passions

one day, my dear, you will realize you

can accomplish everything

just by appearing among us.

If I thought you could hear what I just said

and cash that in – walk off a wealthy person,

I would repeat it, but only for your soul’s own yearning
and the ability to live these words 

yes, the real blessing of this world is simply

you having ever been.

Know that from this realization came dawn

and every benevolent wave that still

spreads out exploring the endlessness of time.

            It may sound as if this is a love poem to an individual, but really, it is a love poem to life itself, to each one of us as an individual, to any person that ever reads these words. That’s the beauty inherent in Hafiz’s poetry – he writes a love story, but not a traditional one. His narration is as personal as it is wide spreading. Anyone who has ever loved anyone (which is everyone), knows that the real blessing of this world is simply you (whoever “you” is) having ever been. Now read this poem as if it is about you. Absorb what it means to change the world with just your very presence in it.  
            What a powerful note to start the New Year on!

My personal resolutions are two:
        1) That instead of judging another from afar, I will picture them standing in front of me, telling me about their own worth: "I am beautiful, unique, loved." I hope I find it more difficult to pass judgement on another human being - a special, once-only, snowflake.
        2) If I feel myself beginning to complain, whether to myself or another, I will spare us both the distaste that comes from whining. Life is precious, I am blessed. I hope I absorb the grandeur of my blessings more on a daily basis.

            I wish all of you a happy and healthy 2014!

Flowering Wisteria in China

Seasons of Love (1996)

Jonathan Larson, RENT