Dear ones, let's anoint this earth with dance!

**********
Greatness

Is always built upon this foundation:

The ability

To appear, speak, and act

As the most

Common

Man.

***************
How

Do I

Listen to others?

As if everyone were my Master

Speaking to me

His

Cherished

Last

Words.

*************

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.

************

If this world
Was not held in God's bucket

How could an ocean stand upside down
On its head and never lose a drop?

If your life was not contained in God's cup

How could you be so brave and laugh,
Dance in the face of death?

Hafiz,
There is a private chamber in the soul
That knows a great secret

Of which no tongue can speak.

Your existence my dear, O love my dear,
Has been sealed and marked

"Too sacred," "too sacred," by the Beloved--
To ever end!

Indeed God
Has written a thousand promises
All over your heart

That say,
Life, life, life,
Is far too sacred to
Ever end.

****************
PERFECTION

I hear the voice
Of every creature and plant,
Every world and sun and galaxy---
Singing the Beloved's Name!

The idea that a human being can achieve "perfect love" or "perfect knowing" may seem extraordinary, yet it is a belief shared by most spiritual systems. it is called by many names -- union with the Father, nirvikalpa samadhi, the highest development of consciousness, God-realization, Qutubiyat, or simply Perfection. One who attains it can be called a Perfect Master, someone who embodies a perfect understanding of the beauty and harmony of the universe.

A Perfect Master experiences life as an infinite and continuous flow of divine love, swirling in, around, and through all forms of life and all realms of creation. It is an experience of total unity with all life and all beings. A Perfect Master personifies perfect joy, perfect knowing, and perfect love and expresses these qualities in every activity of life.

In the Western world, the most familiar example of such perfect love may be Francis of Assisi. In the East, there have been many -- Rumi in Persia, Kabir and Ramakrishna in India, Milarepa in Tibet, and Lao-tzu in China are all revered as Perfect Masters.*

The Teacher of Hafiz, Muhammat Attar, was a Perfect Master, and so was Hafiz himself. The poetry of Hafiz can be read as a record of a human being's journey to perfect joy, perfect knowing, and perfect love.

*World Teachers such as Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and Muhammad also exemplify perfection--Personified.

***************
If God
Invited you to a party
And said,

"Everyone
In the ballroom tonight
Will be my special
Guest,"

How would you then treat them
When you
Arrived?

Indeed, indeed!

And Hafiz knows
There is no one in this world

Who
Is not upon
His Jeweled Dance
Floor.

************

When
The violin
Can forgive the past

It starts singing.

When the violin can stop worrying
About the future

You will become
Such a drunk laughing nuisance

That God
Will then lean down
And start combing you into
His
Hair.

When the violin can forgive
Every wound caused by
Others

The heart starts
Singing.

************

We
Are not
In pursuit of formalities
Or fake religious
Laws,

For through the stairway of existence
We have come to God's
Door.

We are
People who need to love, because
Love is the soul's life,

Love is simply creation's greatest joy.

Through
The stairway of existence,
O, through the stairway of existence, Hafiz

Have
You now come,
Have we all now come to
The Beloved's
Door.

*************

I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself

A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,
A Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me

That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even pure
Soul.

Love has
Befriended Hafiz so completely
It has turned to ash
And freed
Me

Of every concept and image
My mind has ever known.

**************

Effacement
Is a golden gun.
It was not easy to hold it against my head
And fire!

I needed great faith in my master
To suffocate myself
With his holy bag
Full of truth.

I needed great courage
To go out into the dark
Tracking God into the unknown.

And not panic or get lost
In all the startling new scents, sounds,
Sights,

Or lose my temper
Tripping on those sceming
Night and day around me.

Hafiz,
Effacement is the emerald dagger
You need to plunge

Deep into yourself upon
This path to divine
Recovery---

Upon this path
To God.

***************

Love
Is the great work
Though every heart is first an
Apprentice

That slaves beneath the city of Light.

This wondrous trade,
This magnificent throne your soul
Is destined for---

You should not have to think
Much about it,

Is it not clear
An apprentice needs a teacher
Who himself

Has charmed the universe
To reveal its wonders inside his cup.

Happiness is the great work,
Though every heart must first become
A student

To one
Who really knows
About Love.

********************
Why is it now
That I come to you like a humble servant
Willing to feed you brilliant words and love
From my own sacred mouth and hands,

Willing to say, "I am sorry,
i am sorry for all your pain"?

It is because when God
Fully revealed Himself in me

I saw that it was Hafiz
Who wrote all the music you have been playing.

I saw it was Hafiz
Who wrote all your notes of sadness,
But also etched and gave you
Every ecstatic wince of joy your face, body,
And heart has ever known.

Okay my dear,
You have stumbled enough in the earth's sweet dance.
You have paid all your dues
Many times.

Now let's get down to the real reason
Why we sit together and breathe

And begin the laughing, the divine laughing,
Like great heroic women
And magnificent
Strong men.

*******************
There are so many gifts
Still unopened from your birthday,
There are so many hand-crafted presents
That have been sent to you by God.

The Beloved does not mind repeating,
"Everything I have is also yours."

Please forgive Hafiz and the Friend
If we break into a sweet laughter
When your heart complains of being thirsty
When ages ago
Every cell in your soul
Capsized forever
Into this infinite golden sea.

Indeed,
A lover's pain is like holding one's breath
Too long
In the middle of a vital performance,

In the middle of one of Creation's favorite
Songs.

Indeed, a lover's pain is this sleeping,
This sleeping,
When God just rolled over and gave you
Such a big good-morning kiss!

There are so many gifts, my dear,
Still unopened from your birthday.

O, there are so many hand-crafted presents
That have been sent to your life
From God.

***************

Running
Through the streets
Screaming,

Throwing rocks through windows,
Using my own head to ring
Great bells,

Pulling out my hair,
Tearing off my clothes,

Tying everything I own
To a stick,
And setting it on
Fire.

What else can Hafiz do tonight
To celebrate the madness,
The joy,

Of seeing God
Everywhere!

**********
There is

A madman inside of you

Who is always running for office--

Why vote him in,

For he never keeps the accounts straight.

He gets all kinds of crooked deals

Happening all over town

That will just give you a big headache

And glue to your kisser

A gigantic

Confused

Frown.
************

How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart

And give to the world
All its
Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,

Otherwise,
We all remain

Too

Frightened.

-Hafiz

Nothing lasts forever
No one lives forever
Keep that in mind, and love

Our life is not the same old burden
Our path is not the same long journey
The flower fades and dies
We must pause to weave perfection into music
Keep that in mind, and love

My beloved, in you I find refuge

Love droops towards its sunset
To be drowned in the golden shadows
Love must be called from its play
And love must be born again to be free
Keep that in mind, and love

My beloved, in you I find refuge
Without seeing my love, I cannot sleep

Let us hurry to gather our flowers
Before they are plundered by the passing winds
It quickens our blood and brightens our eyes
To snatch kisses that would vanish
If we delayed

Our life is eager
Our desires are keen
For time rolls by
Keep that in mind, and love

My beloved, in you I find refuge

Beauty is sweet for a short time
And then it is gone
Knowledge is precious
But we will never have time to complete it
All is done and finished
In eternal heaven
But our life here is eternally fresh
Keep that in mind, and love