Hafiz Quotes

HAFIZ

Hafiz was born in Shiraz in south-east Persia (modern Iran) in approximately 1320 A.D., twenty two years before the birth of Chaucer and a year before the death of Dante. He was named Shams-ud-din, which means ‘Sun of Faith,’ Mohammed. Later when he began to write poetry he selected Hafiz for his pen-name or ‘takhallus’. ‘Hafiz’ is the title given to one who has learnt the whole of the Koran by heart and Hafiz claimed to have done this is fourteen different ways.

“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of you own being.”

Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,”You owe me.”
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.

You left me and went on your way.
I thought I should mourn for you
But ah, time is short………..Youth wanes year after year; the spring days are fugitive; the
frail flowers die for nothing, and the wise man warns me that
life is but a dew-drop on the lotus leaf.
Should I neglect all this to gaze after one who has turned her
back on me?
That would be rude and foolish, for time is short

You come, and you, and you also!
My lover, you know we are mortals. Is it wise to break one’s
heart for the one who takes her heart away? For time is short

This place where you are right now,
God circled on a map for you.

Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.

If you had the courage and could give the Beloved His choice,
Some nights He would just drag you around the room by your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.

Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
And wants to rip to shreds all your erroneous notions of truth
That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And with others,
Causing the world to weep on too many fine days.

God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us up in a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.
The Beloved sometimes wants to do us a great favor:
Hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.

But when we hear He is in such a “playful drunken mood”
Most everyone I know quickly packs their bags
And hightails it out of town.

Do not surrender your grief so quickly
Let it cut more deeply
Let it ferment and season you
As few human or divine ingredients can

Something is missing in my heart tonight
That has made made my eyes so soft
And my voice so tender
And my need of God so absolutely clear.

Resist your temptation to lie
By speaking of separation from God,

Otherwise,
We might have to medicate
You.

In the ocean
A lot goes on beneath your eyes.

Listen,
They have clinics there too
For the insane
Who persist in saying things like:

“I am independent from the
Sea,

God is not always around

Gently
Pressing against
My body.”