Change Rooms In Your Mind for A Day-Hafiz

I have long loved the Persian poet Hafiz.

Born in the early 1400's his poems have been updated but hold an ancient mystery and wise charm.

SHEMSUDDIN MAHOMMAD, better known by his poetical surname of Hafiz, was born in Shiraz in the early part of the fourteenth century.[1] His names, being interpreted, signify the Sun of the Faith, the Praiseworthy, and One who can recite the Koran; he is further known to his compatriots under the titles of the Tongue of the Hidden and the Interpreter of Secrets. The better part of his life was spent in Shiraz, and he died in that city towards the close of the century. The exact date either of his birth or of his death is unknown. He fell upon turbulent times. His delicate love-songs were chanted to the rude accompaniment of the clash of arms, and his dreams must have been interrupted often enough by the nip of famine in a beleaguered town, the inrush of conquerors, and the flight of the defeated.

All the Hemispheres

Leave the familiar for a while.

Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season

Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.

Make a new water-mark on your excitement

And love.

Like a blooming night flower,

Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness

And giving

Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence

Lie beside an equator

In your heart.

Greet Yourself

In your thousand other forms

As you mount the hidden tide and travel

Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven

Are sitting around a fire

Chatting

While stitching themselves together

Into the Great Circle inside of

You.

 From: 'The Subject Tonight is Love' 

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Greet Yourself

In your thousand other forms

As you mount the hidden tide and travel

Back home.

These words really strike at my heart.  Being here I am glimpsing aspects of myself-my thousand other forms-which are not visible in the comfort of my homeland.

I get to see time and again...what I am made of.  

How I manage my fears, loneliness, frustration as I mount the hidden tide and travel Back Home...to my core.

I believe in the goodness of humanity.

I know people everywhere want to help others in need-including me.

I have seen human curiosity bridge and ultimately defeat fear.

I carry with me, in my cells love, love, love from SUCH great friends and family-it is my immune system and my strength.

Life is good and I am blessed.

If you want to sign up and receive an email for this blog each time I post anew...go to the bottom of the page and sign up for email.