With a tight throat and too much self in the grayness, released

I like to let words speak for themselves, free from my own interpretations and feelings for them most of the time. What follows this simple introduction are some poems and poem pieces from an interview with Daniel Ladinsky in the October 2013 issue of The SUN.

(All are Hafiz as rendered by Daniel Ladinsky)  

Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly

Let it cut more deep

Let it ferment and season you as few

human or even divine ingredients can.

Something missing in my heart tonight

has made my eyes so soft,

my voice so tender, my need of God

absolutely clear.

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 to you,

but still, my dear, you do not come out. 

I have fallen in love with someone who 

is hiding inside of you. 

We should talk about this problem, otherwise

I will never leave you alone.

With That Moon Language

Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to 

them, "Love me."

Of course you do not say this out loud, otherwise 

someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us 

to connect. 

Why not become the one who lives with a full

moon in each eye that is always saying,

with that sweet moon language, what every other

eye in the world is dying to hear.