Being a human being can often feel like a madness sanctioned by the decisions made by others and we feel we must endure this imposition without complaint. We are introduced to this construct often by being dictated to by our parents or circumstance. Later we are liberated in some way by inventive escape or aging into our adulthood only to find that we have somehow gotten sucked back into the world of consequence and other's decisions once more! Much of this has to do with how we transpose as adults how we were nurtured or abandoned when young, clearly, because being a decent, open-hearted human being does not require dissociating from our experiences, adorning ourselves in coping mechanisms and handing ourselves over to the latest trends.
...Friends are not easy to find
In this barren
Place...
How do we connect when those we know cannot see or understand what we value? Most of the world is not enlightened or even sympathetic to change or people with innovative ideas. Much (though not all) of what civilization has built is a mirage designed to fool the eye and cheat the heart for a price. Hafiz warns his students here to examine intention and not get trapped into a cycle of empty promises and expectations that lead to nothing.
Thank you for listening.
Music: This poem reminded me of this song, You Haven't Done Nothin' by Stevie Wonder written in the 1970's. It is good to know what the "nothin' that hasn't been done" is, but this knowing is cold comfort when caring and connection is so desperately desired and there is so little light to find what's needed.
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.
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