YOU WERE BRAVE IN THAT HOLY WAR

[Guest guest]

YOU WERE BRAVE

IN THAT HOLY WAR

You have done well

In the contest of madness.

You were brave in that holy war.

You have all the honorable wounds

Of one who has tried to find love

Where the Beautiful Bird

Does not drink.

May I speak to you

Like we are close

And locked away together?

Once I found a stray kitten

And I used to soak my fingers

In warm milk;

It came to think I was five mothers

On one hand.

Wayfarer,

Why not rest your tired body?

Lean back and close your eyes.

Come morning

I will kneel by your side and feed you.

I will so gently

Spread open your mouth

And let you taste something of my

Sacred mind and life.

Surely

There is something wrong

With your ideas of

God

O, surely there is something wrong

With your ideas of

God

If you think

Our Beloved would not be so

Tender.

( " The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the great Sufi Master " translated by

Ladinsky)