I’ve had a hard time finding words lately, or finding time for words perhaps.
My husband says that what I need is some good old “normal,” but I look at him wryly wondering what exactly normal might be.
Anyway, there are days, you know, when the words just don’t come or they come but they’re all so very wrong or they’re simply lost in the stampede of everyone else’s words.
Yes, there are those days.
On days like that, then perhaps it’s wise to borrow someone else’s words. This poem by Hafiz, a fourteenth century Persian poet, were sent to me by a friend and they seemed fitting to share on this weekend in which we all are made aware, again, of our deep, deep longing for love. Enjoy!
(Maybe you were hoping for a Valentine’s post? If so, here’s an oldie but goodie Love is Vertigo.)
I Know The Way You Can Get
I know the way you can get
when you have not had a drink of Love:
your face hardens,
your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
about a strange look that appears in your eyes
which even begins to worry your own mirror
and nose.
Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
and call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
to help your mind and soul.
Even angels fear that brand of madness
that arrays itself against the world
and throws sharp stones and spears into
the innocent
and into one’s self.
O I know the way you can get
if you have not been drinking Love:
you might rip apart
every sentence your friends and teachers say,
looking for hidden clauses.
You might weigh every word on a scale
like a dead fish.
You might pull out a ruler to measure
from every angle in your darkness
the beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
trusted.
I know the way you can get
if you have not had a drink from Love’s
hands.
That is why all the Great Ones speak of
the vital need
to keep remembering God,
so you will come to know and see Him
as being so Playful
and Wanting,
just Wanting to help.
That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me.
For all I care about
is quenching your thirst for freedom!
All a Sane man can ever care about
is giving Love!
~ Hafiz
From: ‘I Heard God Laughing – Renderings of Hafiz’
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Photo credit HERE.
Thankful for those drinks of God's love … both the gulps and the tiny sips.
Fondly,
Glenda
Yes, like a deer panting for water . . . thanks for commenting, Glenda.