We Should Talk about This Problem -- Hafiz

Guest poem sent in by Pavi Krishnan

(Poem #1654) We Should Talk about This Problem There is a Beautiful Creature Living in a hole you have dug. So at night I set fruit and grains And little pots of wine and milk Beside your soft earthen mounds, And I often sing. But still, my dear, You do not come out. I have fallen in love with Someone Who hides inside you. We should talk about this problem--- Otherwise, I will never leave you alone. -- Hafiz

Such a beguiling poem. It calls out to you with such patient, laughing
tenderness that the proud and frightened creature somewhere inside lifts its
small head in helpless confusion and wonder - this then the beginning of the
end - of glittery-eyed guardedness and a long lack of faith. A fierce
loneliness that must finally give way to love's kindness too sweetly
intentioned to be condescension. How scandalously fond I have grown of this
Sufi poet-saint whose name is Hafiz - and to think we only just met. I like
his willingness to confront the seeming stuck-ness of the situation with
such a sly, reproachful twinkle. I like the gentle humour of the understated
title suggestion: 'We should talk about this problem.' ...And I
particularly love the conclusion - for the caressing determination of its
exquisite threat.

pavi

[Links]

There's a biography attached to Poem #447.

http://www.hafizonlove.com/ is a nicely done site with a lot of information