Fiddling With The Idiot

Fiddling With The Idiot

Once when I was fussing with my hair 
in front of a mirror, 
my master walked by and said: 

"Why are you always fiddling 
with the idiot? 
You should starve him a day or two
now and then."

Once a week I started abstaining 
then it turned into twice a week
then four times
then not at all
and I left each morning looking 
hopeful. 

                I love this poem, it brings up an extremely relevant point in life, which is what are you worshipping? Is it the mirror and how you look? Things that are obviously out of your control? Do you judge yourself by its standards? By its beauty, or lack thereof? Read again Hafiz's closing line...he abstained from the mirror and felt hopeful. Likely because he no longer thought of age stealing youth, of health conditions stealing complexion, of comparison to others, of comparison to his former self. Yes, avoiding the mirror can make one feel hopeful. 

We Wear the Mask

by Paul Laurence Dunbar 

We wear the mask that grins and lies, 

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— 

This debt we pay to human guile; 

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, 

And mouth with myriad subtleties. 

Why should the world be over-wise, 

In counting all our tears and sighs? 

Nay, let them only see us, while 

We wear the mask. 

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries 

To thee from tortured souls arise. 

We sing, but oh the clay is vile 

Beneath our feet, and long the mile; 

But let the world dream otherwise, 

We wear the mask!

The Theater of Freedom

The Theater of Freedom

In my divine studio
I have been working on this: 

Painting the Truth,
Revealing a picture of God,

Tearing down cruel walls
so you can enter 
the marvelous theater 
of Freedom.

       Hafiz told his followers many things, but two that recently stood out to me where: 1) "We all have liquid ruby-light that we can lift in a cup." 2) "Where do you think you will be when God reveals Himself inside of you?"
       So my question would be, what frees you in life? Is it Truth? Is it your own understanding of Truth? It it Love? God? Hope? Promise?
       Tomorrow I turn 22! To close from another wonderful poem (She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron): "She walks in beauty, like the night/of cloudless climes and starry skies..." 

The Night Is Still Young (1985), Billy Joel

Dropping Keys

Dropping Keys

The small man builds cages
for everyone he knows. 

The sage keeps 
dropping his keys
for Beauty to find. 

          Cute and clever, this poem has a point to it. Why not drop your keys across the universe and leave a way for Beauty to come find you and knock at your door? Here is a clever digital art illustration called "Pouring The Universe".

The Sight of Choice

The mind is like a falcon, ever ready with its sight on its choice prey - beauty. 

          What does the phrase "sight of choice" mean to you? If you could feast your eyes upon one thing, what would it be? Family, children, lover, friends, mountaintops, sunsets, puppies, decadent meals, fancy cars, etc.? Hafiz goes with "beauty", which is really anything that, according to the Google definition means: "a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the sight". There's no talk of perfect figures, perfect qualities, perfect weights...but "a combination of qualities" and in this definition, we can only conclude that every single person, being a multitude of many things, is beautiful.

The Most Magnificient Season

The most magnificient season is existence. 

          Some would say that the most magnificient season is Fall, or Spring, or Winter, or Summer. Take your pick, but Hafiz says the most magnificient season is today. How powerful is that?!
          In theme with "seasons" (and thus the environment) and the power of one, I encourage everyone to watch The Lorax, especially 22:49 until the end of the film.

The Lorax, 1972

Dr. Seuss 

Heart Lifted Into the Sky's Oasis

You can invent galaxies if you allow your heart to be lifted into the sky's oasis. 


            What causes the heart to swell, to strive towards some unnamed calling? Or said more romantically by Hafiz, lifted into the sky's oasis, such that you can invent galaxies!

            Another poet, Pablo Neruda, talked about the heart flying in his beautiful poem, "Your Hands":

Your Hands

When your hands leap

towards mine, love,

what do they bring me in flight?

Why did they stop

at my lips, so suddenly,

why do I know them,

as if once before,

I have touched them,

as if, before being,

they travelled

my forehead, my waist?

Their smoothness came

winging through time,

over the sea and the smoke,

over the Spring,

and when you laid

your hands on my chest

I knew those wings

of the gold doves,

I knew that clay,

and that colour of grain.

The years of my life

have been roadways of searching,

a climbing of stairs,

a crossing of reefs.

Trains hurled me onwards

waters recalled me,

on the surface of grapes

it seemed that I touched you.

Wood, of a sudden,

made contact with you,

the almond-tree summoned

your hidden smoothness,

until both your hands

closed on my chest,

and there like two wings

ended their journey.

Tus manos, Pablo Neruda

This Sweet World

Have much desire to play in this sweet world. 

        There is probably no better poem than "Ode to Life" (Neruda) to illustrate the idea that this life is about taking chances, about recognizing the sweetness of this one opportunity, about loving every gift (because every day is one), and about soaking in as many treasured blessings as you can.

Ode To Life by Pablo Neruda

Slowly dies he who becomes a slave to habit, 

repeating the same journey every day, 

he who doesn't change his march, he who doesn't risk 

and change the color of his clothes, he who doesn't speak to he whom he doesn't know. 

Slowly dies he who makes of the television his guru, 

he who avoids a passion dies, he who prefers 

black on white and dots on i's rather than a togetherness of emotions 

exactly those that make the eyes shine, 

those that make the heart beat 

before error and feeling. 

Slowly dies he who doesn't overturn the table, 

he who is unhappy in his work, 

he who doesn't risk certainty for uncertainty 

to follow a dream, 

he who doesn't permit himself at least one time in his life 

to flee sensible counsels. 

Slowly dies he who doesn't travel, he who doesn't read, 

he who doesn't listen to music, 

he who doesn't find grace in himself. 

he who destroys his own love dies, 

he who doesn't allow himself to be helped. 

He who passes his days lamenting 

about his own misfortune or the incessant rain dies. 

Slowly dies he who abandons a project 

before beginning it, 

he who doesn't ask questions about topics he doesn't know, 

he who doesn't answer when he is asked something that he knows. 

Let's avoid death by small doses, 

remembering always that being alive requires a much larger effort 

than the simple act of breathing. 

Only burning patience will bring within reach a splendid happiness...

The Girl In The Sunset, Rani Bajaj

Beauty You Carry Inside

Look in the clear mountain mirror and see the beautiful elements you always carry inside. 

                What is your light? Where does your inner immanence come from? Does it come from faith in God? From the people you love? From the stories you share in? From the lives you touch? Rilke suggest that we can carry beauty within us simply from the books we've had the pleasure of reading.

             
"Live for awhile in the books you love. Learn from them what is worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be returned to you a thousand times over. Whatever your life may become, these books—of this I am certain—will weave through the web of your unfolding. They will be among the strongest of all threads of your experiences, disappointments, and joys." - Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, Viareggio, April 5, 1903

I Have A Light, Don Potter

Plugged Into The Infinite

Being plugged into the Infinite helps. 

       Does love help you to soar above this world? To find the beauty in things beyond whatever your circumstances, shortcomings, and failures are? I think it does. The last two lines of this poem are beautiful, fear, weariness, worry, shadows, etc. will not win the loved and the lover. Aren't we all covered from darkness then?

Love Is Enough 

by William Morris

Love is enough: though the World be a-waning, 

And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining, 

Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover 

The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder, 

Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder, 5

And this day draw a veil over all deeds pass'd over, 

Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter; 

The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter 

These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover. 

Remind Me, Brad Paisley

Every Horse Should Run Full Speed

Every Horse Should Run Full Speed

Accomplish something with your life;
use all your wits and talents.

As every horse should be able 
to run full speed,
and know all the beauty and wonder
of its strength. 

         Today is my mom's birthday, I wish her the full speed of a beautiful running horse and the ageless wisdom contained with Wordsworth's poem. I love you, Mom!

Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey

William Wordsworth

Oh that best portion of a good man's life, 

His little, nameless, unremembered, acts 

Of kindness and of love. 

Nor less, I trust, To them I may have owed another gift, 

Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood, 

In which the burthen of the mystery, 

In which the heavy and the weary weight 

Of all this unintelligible world, Is lightened:

- that serene and blessed mood,

by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, 

We see into the life of things - and become a living soul. 

Wild Horses

Photograph by: Chuck Haney

Recognition

Recognition

Word spread about something her eyes whispered

and many gathered to receive her great gifts

when her gaze turned their way.

And it did, that gift they did receive.

For she looked upon all who came close to her

as if she were seeing God.

What the sun in the sky does for the earth

giving life as it does

so can the eye bestow to the heart

when it caresses a face out of recognition.

Who then does not know a moment of happiness

that they can share with another?

And more than that

because of gratitude.

            This poem is multifaceted and I will not be able to outline every interpretation I am considering here. Mainly because hundreds more interpretations might exist seeing as this poem is so intricately beautiful (and because finals week is looming and I don’t have as much time for my entries).  That being said, my first question would be does this woman know us? I believe the answer is “yes”, but not in the way one would think. She does not know us a friend or acquaintance or even from an old passing glance. She knows as a brother or sister of mankind and she greets us as she does God. Why don’t we practice the recognition she is bestowing in our own lives? Hafiz is urging us to do so, saying that surely we have experienced happiness and with that we must be grateful enough to share it with any human that passes our way in the web of existence. It is in this “sharing” that we can come to recognize anyone, for who is a stranger to the gift of happiness (a smile)?

Saints Bowing In The Mountains

Saints Bowing In The Mountains

Do you know how beautiful you are?

I think not, my dear. For as you talk,

I see great parades with colorful bands streaming

from your mind and heart,

carrying wonderful and secret messages

to every corner of this world.

I see saints bowing in the mountains,

hundreds of miles away,

to the wonder of sounds that break into light

from your most common words.

Speak to me of your mother, your father,

your cousins, your friends.

Tell me of animals and how the wind blows.

Awaken your legion of wings –

let them soar wild and free in the sky

and begin to sing to God.

Do you know how beautiful you are?

I think not, my dear.

            I think woman need to be reminded of this, how beautiful they are. Believing that you’re good-looking doesn’t make you a great candidate for love, but the confidence that comes from believing that you’re a charming, pleasant, and enchanting person with lots to offer does. Understanding the overwhelming magnitude of your own worth, what Hafiz describes as an inner light that can be worshipped hundreds of miles away, makes you beautiful. Yes, attractive and lovable. Women need to be told this more, men too. In fact, everyone should exalt the unique aura they bring to this world. 

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”.

Can Any Beauty Match This?

Can Any Beauty Match This?

When the sun within speaks, when love

reaches out its hand and places it upon

another,

any power the stars and planets might

have upon us,

any fears you can muster can become so

rightfully insignificant.

What one heart can do for another heart,

is there any beauty in the world that can

match this?

This poem can stand alone on many mountains. Love carries our hopes with it, encompasses all our joys, and guides us through all our sorrows. What a sweet and divine feeling. 

Edvard Munch, The Kiss, 1897

I Promise

I Promise

Has not the Architect, Love, built your heart
in a glorious manner,

with so much care that it is meant to break
if love ever ceases to know all that happens
is perfect? 

And where does anything love has ever known
go, when your eye and hand can no longer
be warmed by its body?

So vast a room your soul, every universe can
fit into it.

Anything you once called beautiful, anything
that ever

gave you comfort waits to unite with your
arms again. I promise.


          Wow. I think this poem is both instructional and comforting. Hafiz has offered some great “knowledge”, replete with his spiritual insight. John Steinbeck wrote a letter to his son, Thom, about love, in which he also includes advice. It’s worth it to read the entire letter on an awesome site, Letters of Note. Conversely, below, I’ve selected the four things I think the letter teaches best:

First—if you are in love—that’s a good thing—that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

People can be jealous of love, they can trivialize certain relationships. Do not let this affect you, love is the only gold.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it. The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

Enjoy every moment you are with your beloved. Revel in your love while remembering not to take it for granted.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another—but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Heartbreak can happen, but this does not diminish the pureness of love.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

As cliché as it sounds, if you are meant to be together, you’ll be together. If it’s really right, then time is insignificant. This sentiment reminds me of the ending of the Henry Van Dyke poem, Time Is: “...for those who Love, Time is not.” If you love someone, you will always have them. I promise. 

Love sculpture, Robert Indiana

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

A Man Married To a Blind Woman

A Man Married To a Blind Woman

A man married to a blind woman told her how
beautiful she was every day. And whenever he said
that, she smiled, and her whole body relaxed.

They lived alone at a small remote oasis where
few ever stopped. And whenever someone did he
made sure that no one ever saw his wife,

for a person could openly gasp at her appearance
because she was deformed.

Her husband’s voice and that of her sister, who
would visit a few times a year, were the only
ones she really knew. And she loved her simple
life on the little farm they had.

Appearance, and our relationship, you should
know the truth of those by now: 

If you woke next to me on any day, I would say
to you what he so often did.

My dear, you are so beautiful.


             This is a beautiful poem. It is probably one that many women need to read, with the ever-increasing pressure to present with good looks. Hafiz is so eloquent in saying that Love is so much more. I’ve always been a fan of the compilation “The True Meaning of Love” and I would like to find out who the author actually is.

             I want everyone to take solace in this wonderful line by Kabir (another Sufi poet): “If a mirror ever makes you sad, you should know that it does not know you.”

What Holds Us Captive

What Holds Us Captive

Look at the sweetness of their play, those
lion cubs. Look at part of Beauty’s beauty,

it holds us captive to what delights.
All those paws in a dancing motion, they
are a blessing to my eye.

It should be like this; all that can open the
heart in heaven…can be found on Earth.

Love reveals the paradise.

             Happy November! This month will be devoted to Hafiz on Love. Daniel Ladinsky, considered to be the living authority on Hafiz, says of Hafiz’s poetry: “May something in them touch you as only a real lover and friend can.” I think you will be able to find that in this month’s readings. 

             I chose this poem as my opener for the last line: “Love reveals the paradise.” I am particularly attracted to this line because it is succinct, yet nonspecific. Hafiz does not specify the type of love nor the vision of paradise. This is powerful because it means YOU can. I hope you enjoy Hafiz’s love poems and that you are always in the presence of Love that holds you captive to delight.

It Tried to Prepare Me

It Tried to Prepare Me

The clear night sky tried to prepare me for
what it knew would someday happen;

it began to show me ever deeper aspects of
its splendor, and then one evening just directly
asked, Will you be able to withstand your own
magnificence?

I thought I was just hearing things, until
a spring orchard I was passing my days with

at the height of its glory burst into song,
about our – every human’s – destiny to burn
with radiance.

Still I felt my ears were playing tricks on me
until the morning came when God tore apart
my chest…needing more room to bloom
inside.

I began to roll through the streets in ecstasy.
Everyone thought I was crazy.

I hope everyone someday knows how blessed
I was. You will.



         What a beautiful poem that reminds us of our own significance and inner light. I love the imagery of the night sky, the thing that blankets the world, leaning in to question.

          In 2003, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, with Sybille d’Orgeval and Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire, launched the 7 Billion Others project in attempt to show that every human had a story to tell. They interviewed fishermen, professors, shopkeepers, physicians, performers, farmers, teachers, homemakers, etc. in 82 countries. “All answered the same questions about their fears, dreams, ordeals, hopes: What have you learnt from your parents? What do you want to pass on to your children? What difficult circumstances have you been through? What does love mean to you?”

         While you’re marveling at your own magnificence and the radiance of others, take a moment to check out Upworthy.com. It rocks!