True love is not for the faint of heart, as love, for some is discovered as a sacred thing and a certain resilience must be hard wired into the individual to live with this way of life. It is not for everyone to have life altering experiences around love beyond altering one's life trajectory through a partnership and have it settle there. For some this is not the path they are on. For some, love lives deeper within them and beyond romance and social constructs. Love is elemental and involves all of the essentials; earth, air, water and fire; all the elements required on this earth at our disposal need to be alchemized. For those called, love asks for excavation, transformation and alchemy. Hafiz is one of these types of people. He is a warrior who dares to go where angels fear to tread to explore his sacred mission of being fully human, being vital and to teach. He knows beauty can be fierce in this world.
God has
Roared near us.
The lashes on our heart's eye got burnt.
Of course we have
Run away....
Music: It is not our logical mind but how our hearts see that allows us to enter into a transformative experience. The 1980's were an interesting time for artists like Peter Gabriel who were obviously visionary. Personally, I was not keen on the 80's when I was in them. I didn't have the breadth of experience to get past the popular fashion which was wretched, in my opinion. But, as I have aged, I've come around to reflect upon those times artistically with a kind of awe. We were up to our padded shoulders and big hair in miracles, and, like now, pretty much oblivious. Here is the classic, Solsbury Hill. Gabriel is quoted as saying of the song, "It's about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get ... It's about letting go." Before this, often, is the revelation, however, and there is the shock and the running away that Hafiz speaks about.
Sadly I could not track down the artist on the graphic above.
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.