Asking For The Hand of Marriage

Asking For The Hand of Marriage

When someone becomes quiet in this world,

really quiet, those who aren’t may turn

to them,

even from behind a wall or from a great distance.

It is like a touch they, the unstill, wanted

a touch that can come from the invisible,

come from an intimate region of the benevolent spirit

in someone in true peace.

Unknown to most, one asks for the hand of

marriage wherever their gaze falls.

I have to stop myself here;

sometimes I just cannot help but to cheer

something that has never quite been put into words before,

as that last line

about a “marriage” we always seek.

This is all I can say now.

If there is something in your mind obstructing your vision,
Let someone who can see, read all this to you.  

            This poem is an example of Hafiz being quite cryptic and simultaneously mystical. If we think of marriage as a union, or as our heart's desire to wed with something else, it can be everything that Hafiz has described. I like this song as a "First Dance" song. 

18th Floor Balcony, Blue October

Your Scent I Know

Your Scent I Know

The ferry to any shore, to any land
to any realm, is the heart.

An unseen vessel though it is to most, Love
but so capable of travel,
via a prayer or a soul’s deep wish.

And your spirit’s arms, they can reach out
and really touch anything you want
to hold. 

It should be that way, and it is.
For you, dear, all within time, are right before me.
Your scent I know; your ways I shape.

       I love this poem! Your ticket to the serene, the unimaginable, the beautiful is through Love. And in loving another deeply you board this universal vessel.
      With the one I love, I want to share everything, from pillows to cold feet to familiar glances to fire places to spaghetti dinners to car keys to hoodies to ice cream cones to Saturday nights to Sunday mornings to smiles in the dark to children and to every special memory that comes our way.
      Yes, Love is the soul’s ticket to infinite possibilities. In the following link, 26 of the Most Thought Provoking Photographs of All Time, you will undoubtedly be moved by them all. I think that is what Love does, it stirs something deep within, making it possible to not only travel to, but also inhabit the infinite.

So You Can Plant More Wheat

So You Can Plant More Wheat

I would like to remove some rocks from your

field so that you can plant more wheat.

And those hills that I see that are part of you,

I have some trees in mind for them

and flowering grasses, so that you won’t erode

when the elements pour.

Are we not lovers? Cannot I speak to you like

this?

Do I need to ask your permission to hitch up

my ox and sing to him as I improve your vast

terrain?

The title to your heart came to my office. In

looking at it a great interest in your soul

developed. The care of your soul became mine.

So I would like to remove some stones from

your meadows; then an orchard you could grow,

and the world, and the world then, will come

to taste your riches.

            Have you ever considered Love to be akin to tending a garden in another’s soul? I hadn’t until I read this poem. Now I can envision myself planting roses for beauty and evergreens for protection in the heart of another.

            When I was a young child, my mother used to read me the book, The Giving Tree. It is a story about selfless love. Some say between mother and child, God and mankind, or two friends. Regardless of what interpretation appeals to you, could you help another grow by giving so much of yourself?  

The Subject Tonight Is Love

The Subject Tonight Is Love

The subject tonight is Love

and tomorrow night as well.

As a matter of fact,

I know of no better topic

For us to discuss
Until we die. 

       I love discussing Love. When I’m in a girly mood, I often dream about the future, in which I picture my wedding. As someone who wants to write my own vows, I sometimes google notable odes to a lover or personalized vows written by the couple next door.

      An example I enjoyed reading was the vows of Dan Waber and Jennifer Hill, who were married on Saturday, November 29th, 2008. This is Dan's introductory note: “The vows were basically an alternating list poem with a repeated phrase “I Am Marrying You Because” (also the title). She read all the odd numbered parts, and I read all the even numbered.”

      This is the verse that stood out to me: “I am marrying you because: You still make me feel like we're the man and woman in Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss". Anyone familiar with "The Kiss" will realize it depicts the height of romance. The two lovers seem to blend into one being, making it difficult to determine where one begins and the other ends.

The Kiss, Gustav Klimt, 1908-1909

The Day Sky

The Day Sky

Let us be like

two falling stars in the day sky.

Let no one know of our sublime beauty

as we hold hands with God

and burn

Into a sacred existence that defies –

that surpasses

Every description of ecstasy

and love.           

            Hafiz says “Watch us become more than Happiness. More than Love. Watch us build our kingdom with God.” I’m sure we’ve all seen girls re-pin or retweet the Edgar Allan Poe line “We loved with a love that was more than love-”. It’s beautiful because it can mean anything. What’s more than love? Can you answer that question? F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “There are all kinds of love in this world, but never the same love twice.” What you have with someone will never be replicated or repeated in time. How sacred!

           I’ve always loved this photograph by Robert Doisneau because it seems to whispher to me “love exists independently of the world”.

In a Tree House

In a Tree House

Light

will someday split you open

even if your life is now a cage,

For a divine seed, the crown of destiny,

is hidden and sown on an ancient, fertile plain

that you hold the title to.

Love will surely bust you wide open

into an unfettered, blooming new galaxy

A life-giving radiance will come,

O look again within yourself,

For I know you were once the elegant host

To all the marvels in creation. 

From a sacred crevice in your body,

a bow rises each night

and shoots your soul into God.

Behold the Beautiful One

from the vantage point of Love.

He is conducting the affairs

of the whole universe

in a tree house – on a limb

in your heart.

            This makes my heart swoon for God and for the enormity of His Love. Hafiz was such a brilliant poet and possibly an even greater interpreter of spirituality. A perfect man/woman would be a manifestation of Love. A few “Realized Souls” have achieved such a near perfect union on Earth, Hafiz being one of them. Daniel Ladinsky, the most well-known English translator of Hafiz said: “Language when it mingles with spirit does a tremendous service to the world: it empowers and changes lives; it awakens love, valor, and wonder. The words of a poet-saint are unique, they become cherished friends to the heart – for they constantly comfort and free.”

        I consider Sting’s song Fields of Gold both comforting and freeing. Take a listen.

Where Do You Think You Will Be?

Where Do You Think You Will Be?

I am sitting on a mountain.

I am casting shadows into the sky.

I did not invite it, but the sun has come

and is now playing tag with me feet.

I am whispering to clouds today.

Where do you think you will be

when God reveals Himself

inside of you?

I am sitting on a mountain range.

I am a precious body of living water

offered to the Earth

from Light’s own hands.

All of existence and I will blend

I am every pillow offering comfort

to each mind and foot

Why ever talk of miracles

when you are

destined to become

Infinite Love.  

            What a spiritual question to ponder. Where will you be when you discover God? In many people’s minds God is Infinite Love. I too believe this is true. Yet Hafiz takes it one step further and says that we are destined to become the same. That God is inside each and every one of us. How wonderful it is to believe we are all sacred vessels. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8). Whatever your Truth is, you can find it through Love.

Mountains in Vancouver, Canada

Photograph: Arden Gewirtz