Hafiz - my favourite mystic poet

Your love should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger
Only to someone who has the valor and daring
to cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
then weave them into a blanket to protect you

__________

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

__________

I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:
Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.
Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.
Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one's self.
O I know the way you can get
If you have not been drinking Love:
You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.
You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.

You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
Trusted.

I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love's
Hands.

That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.

That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!
All a Sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love!”
― Hafiz

The most eloquent, wise and wonderful Robert Brault - everyone of his quotes is a gem

There comes a time when something you love no longer is, and what sustains you is knowing that there will never come a time when it no longer was