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.