Life often seems cruel. It feels that way. How do we weather this? Here we are schlepping through our days sometimes dancing and singing - sometimes crawling and despondent - all the time aware that there is a temper afoot in between each breath we take. Somewhere someone is starving and/or being tortured by unimaginable forces painfully real or terrifyingly fictitious. How do we bear this knowledge and still remain balanced and openhearted? I guess a belief in life having purpose is all we really have along with a sorry sack of overly worn codes of decency that we clutch to our breast.
Hafiz waxes poetic over this enigma reminding us that though life seems cruel, there is a bigger story rooted in compassion afoot. It is a story that we only own by belief that there are things beyond our ken at work. This cruelty that pierces us so deeply is wrapped within a benevolence that surpasses us. We do our best.
Thank you for listening.
Music: I'm a huge fan of Florence and The Machine and their videos are monsters of emotional movement. Here is Big God. It captures that sense of overwhelm and feeling the need of so much more to meet the our perception of necessity.
Sometimes I think it's getting better
And then it gets much worse
Is it just part of the process?
Jesus Christ, it hurts
Though I know I should know better
Well, I can make this work
Is it just part of the process?
The original post in this series of poems by Hafiz (including an addendum regarding the authenticity of these poems) can be found here. Also, my thoughts on this series a year into these poems, HERE.
The Gift: Poems by Hafiz and translated by Daniel Ladinsky can be purchased here.
My book can be purchased HERE. E-book HERE. The Season Two blogcasts with audio excerpts from my book begin HERE: in Behind The Lines. This reading of the book excerpts in a mixed media format is Season Two of this blog. These recorded excerpts are outside the chronological order in which the book was written. Podcasts with audio only beginning with episode 22 can be found HERE.