OUT OF GOD'S
HAT
The stars
poured into the sky
Out of a Magician's hat last night,
And all of them
have fallen into my hair.
Some have even tangled my eyelashes
Into
luminous, playful knots.
Wayfarer,
You are welcome to cut a radiant
tress
That lays upon my shoulders.
Wrap it around your trembling heart and
body
That craves divine comfort and warmth.
I am like a pitcher of
milk
In the hands of a mother who loves you.
All of my contents
now
Have been churned into dancing suns and moons.
Lean your sweet
neck and mouth
Out of that dark nest where you hide,
I will pour
effulgence into your mind.
Come spring
You can find me rolling in the
fields
They are exploding in
Holy battles
Of scents, of sounds -
everything is
A brilliant colored nova on a stem.
Forest animals hear
me laughing
And surrender their deepest instincts and fears,
They come
charging into meadows
To lick my hands and face,
This makes me so
happy,
I become so happy
That my rising wink turns into a magic
baton.
When my soft-eyed creatures see that wonderful signal
We all burst
into singing
And make strange and primal beautiful sounds!
My only
regret in this world then becomes:
That your shyness keeps you from
placing
Your starving body against God
And seeing the Beloved become
so pleased
With your courage
That his belly begins to rock and
rock,
Then more planets get to leap
Onto the welcome mat of
existence
All because
Of your previous love.
The friend has turned
my verse into sacred pollen.
When a breeze comes by
Falcons and
butterflies
And playful gangs of young angels
Mounted on emerald
spears
Take flight from me like a great sandstorm
That can blind you
to all but the Truth!
Dear one
Even if you have no net to catch
Venus
My music will circle this earth for hundreds of years
And fall like
resplendent debris,
Holy seed, onto a fertile woman.
For
Hafiz
Wants to help you laugh at your every
Desire.
Hafiz
Wants
you to know
Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within
God's
Arms
Is already
Perfect!
("The Gift" --
versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)