The Gift : poems by the great Sufi master /
Hafiz ; translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
- New York, NY : Compass, 1999.
- xvi, 333 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
One : Startled by God Startled by God -- Let's Eat -- When the Violin -- Looking for Good Fish -- A Hunting Party -- This Sane Idea -- We Have Not Come to Take Prisoners -- I Can See Angels -- You're It -- I Rain Two : I Have Learned So Much God Just Came Near -- The Sun Never Says -- The Seed Cracked Open -- Why Just Ask the Donkey -- Who Wrote All the Music -- Your Mother and My Mother -- Mismatched Newlyweds -- Your Seed Pouch -- That Magnificent Storm Three : Removing the Shoe From the Temple Removing the Shoe from the Temple -- Against My Own Hand -- Out of This Mess -- If God Invited You to a Party -- To Build a Swing -- A Crystal Rim -- This One Is Mine -- Curfews -- The Ear That Was Sold to a Fish -- An Infant in Your Arms Four : I Hold the Lion's Paw If the Falling of a Hoof -- What the Hell -- Someone United Your Camel -- When I Want to Kiss God -- For a Single Tear -- That Shapes the Eye -- So Many Gifts -- Love Is the Funeral Pyre -- Allah, Allah, Allah Five : Don't Die Again
"More than any other Persian poet — even Rumi — Hafiz expanded the mystical, healing dimensions of poetry. Because his poems were often ecstatic love songs from God to his beloved world, many have called Hafiz the “Invisible Tongue.” Indeed, Daniel Ladinsky has said that his work with Hafiz is an attempt to do the impossible: to render Light into words—to make the Luminous Resonance of God tangible to our finite senses. With this stunning collection of Hafiz’s most intimate poems, Ladinsky has succeeded brilliantly in presenting the essence of one of Islam’s greatest poetic and religious voices. Each line of The Gift imparts the wonderful qualities of this master Sufi poet and spiritual teacher: encouragement, an audacious love that touches lives, profound knowledge, generosity, and a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature." (Publisher's Website)
0140195815 (pbk.)
Sufi poetry, Persian--Translations into English.--Poetry Religion History