Hafiz

SB and I recently took a trip to the bookstore in search of poetry. He had a hankering for the complete poetic works of Allen Ginsberg (which I can easily get behind) and I was just browsing. What I ended up being most drawn to was a collection of poems called "The Gift" by the Sufi master Hafiz. While most of the poems ultimately express love and devotion to and from God, it is not always so explicit and often comes off as expressions of gratitude, delight in the human experience, interconnectivity, transcendental experiences, and other beautiful things that do not feel associated with organized "religion" so much as generic "spirituality," if you will. Anyway, after conditioning it for fear that the word God will turn people off, here are a few samples (note: he reminds me very much of Rumi):

Courteous to the Ant

God

Blooms

From the shoulder

Of the

Elephant

Who becomes

Courteous 

To

The 

Ant.

I am Really Just a Tambourine

Good

Poetry

Makes the universe admit a 

Secret:

"I am

Really just a tambourine,

Grab hold,

Play me 

Against your warm

Thigh."

Two Giant Fat People

God

And I have become

Like two giant fat people

Living in a 

Tiny boat.

We

Keep

Bumping into each other and

L

a

u

g

h

i

n

g

.

The Foundation for Greatness (for my fav presidential candidate...)

Greatness

Is always built upon this foundation:

The ability

To appear, speak and act

As the most

Common

Man.