Hafiz is a 14th century Persian poet. The likes of Goethe and Ralph Waldo Emerson commented on his works. Goethe wrote that “Hafiz has no peers” which is high praise. Though I don’t think any new writings of Hafiz have been discovered, his poems are often re-translated by folks with better linguistic ability or even just a better handle on his body of work. I find in his poems an uncanny sense of the Presence of the Divine.
In his poem, An Enthusiasm To Express Discovery Hafiz wrote:
It’s not often I sit down to read a book of poems, although there are four of them within grasping distance of me right this moment. And it’s even less often when I finish a particular poem that I have a conviction that it’s trying to tell me something. But if you’ll allow me to be so bold — Hafiz spoke to me this evening about this blogging I’ve been doing!
You see I’ve been wondering about this habit of writing I’ve acquired and the things I feel compelled to write about. It’s never a chore to face the blank page. Most often it seems there’s something I need to say–with a corresponding inkling that the same something I need to say, someone else needs to hear. While I’ve never considered blogging an ‘art form’ I really do share from a place that could be considered “an enthusiasm to express discovery.” It’s a very deep place.
Last year a reader commented on one of my postings; one which had almost written itself. He said “thanks for being vulnerable, I was wondering about this same thing.” And there it was. I freely admit I didn’t realize–maybe until then–that my blogging leaves me vulnerable. For me this writing is a labor of love. If I can place myself in Hafiz’ poem: I write to express discoveries of the Divine…when I become aware of some inner movement and when I’ve mingled with it for a while…I put those experiences down on the page for you to touch and see if you want them…and hope you’ll find them useful.
It is not lost on me that what I most often write on are reflections from my silence and prayer. I write what I feel God has revealed for my good, hoping its for your good as well. My heart’s desire is consistent–to offer something that will enrich your relationship to the One in whom we “live and move and have our being.”
No. In the 14th century Hafiz could not have imagined that someone would take his beautiful poem on artful expression and apply it to the “artform” of blogging. But I trust my engaging his poem as I have only proves what an inspired poem it indeed is to have stood the test of time.
May you too experience those “thin places” of revelation in an artform–a poem, a painting, a sculpture, or the eyes of another. May God use those experiences to draw you closer and reveal to you His Presence. And may you find what it is in you, that is useful to a waiting world.
The Celtic Monk Musings 