The Gift Quotes

“The
Earth would die
If the sun stopped kissing her.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, The Gift

“The heart is a
The thousand-stringed instrument

That can only be tuned with
Love.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, The Gift

“Listen: this world is the lunatic's sphere,
Don't always agree it's real,

Even with my feet upon it
And the postman knowing my door

My address is somewhere else.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, The Gift

“Let's get loose
With
Compassion,

Let's drown in the delicious
Ambience of
Love.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, The Gift

“Sometimes I say to a poem,

"I don't have the strength
To wring out another drop
Of the sun."

And the poem will often
Respond

By climbing onto a barroom table:

Then lifts its skirt, winks,
Causing the whole sky to
Fall.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, The Gift

“All your wounds from craving love
Exist because of heroic deeds.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, The Gift

“Not loving is a letting go.
Listen,
The terrain around here
Is
Far too
Dangerous
For
That.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Shams-al-Din Mohammad Hafez, The Gift

“Love is
The funeral pyre
Where I have laid my living body.

All the false notions of myself
That once caused fear, pain,

Have turned to ash
As I neared God.

What has risen
From the tangled web of thought and sinew
Now shines with jubilation
Through the eyes of angels
And screams from the guts of Infinite existence
Itself.

Love is the funeral pyre
Where the heart must lay
Its body.”
― Hafiz, The Gift

“There are
So many positions of
Love:

Each curve on a branch,

The thousand different ways
Your eyes can embrace us,

The infinite shapes your
Mind can draw,

The spring
Orchestra of scents,

The currents of light combusting
Like passionate lips,

The revolution of Existence's skirt
Whose folds contain other worlds.

Your every sigh that falls against
His inconceivable
Omnipresent
Body.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, The Gift

“Lean your sweet neck and mouth
Out of that dark nest where you hide,
I will pour effulgence into your mind.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, The Gift

“This sky
Where we live
Is no place to lose your wings
So love, love
Love.”
― Hafez, The Gift

“Lovers
Don't tell all of their
Secrets.

They might
Count each other's moles
That reside in the shy
Regions,

Then keep that tally strictly
To themselves.

God and I
Have signe a contract
To be even more intimate than
That!

Though a clause
Mentions

Something about not drawing detailed maps
To all His beautiful

Laughing
Moles.”
― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Shams-al-Din Mohammad Hafez, The Gift

“Art is the conversation between lovers. Art offers an opening for the heart. True art makes the divine silence in the soul Break into applause.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“Why
Just ask the donkey in me
To speak to the donkey in you,

When I have so many other beautiful animals
And brilliant colored birds inside
That are longing to say something wonderful
And exciting to your heart?

Let's open all the locked doors upon our eyes
That keep us from knowing the Intelligence
That begets love
And a more lively and satisfying conversation
With the Friend.

Let's turn loose our golden falcons
So that they can meet in the sky
Where our spirits belong--
Necking like two
Hot kids.

Let's hold hands and get drunk near the sun
And sing sweet songs to God
Until He joins us with a few notes
From his own sublime lute and drum.

If you have a better idea
Of how to pass a lonely night
After your glands may have performed
All their little magic
Then speak up sweethearts, speak up,
For Hafiz and all the world will listen.

Why just bring your donkey to me
Asking for stale hay
And a boring conference with the idiot
In regards to this precious matter--
Such a precious matter as love,

When I have so many other divine animals
And brilliant colored birds inside
That are all longing
To so sweetly
Greet
You!”
― Hafez, The Gift

“Whatis the root of all these words?
One thing: Love.
But a love so deep and sweet it needed to express itself with scents, sounds, colors that never before existed.”
― Hafiz, The Gift

“True art awakens the
Extraordinary
Ovation”
― Hafiz, The Gift

“For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits, But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom, and
Light!”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“I am a hole in the flute that the Christ's breath moves through listen to this music

I am the concert from the mouth of every creature
singing with the myriad chorus

Quote by Hafiz”
― Hafiz, The Gift

“What is the root of all these words?
One thing: Love.
But a love so deep and sweet it needed to express itself with scents, sounds, colors that never before existed.”
― حافظ, The Gift

“What is the key
To untie the knot of the mind’s suffering? Benevolent thought, sound
And movement.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“TROUBLED Troubled?
Then stay with me, for I’m not. Lonely?
A thousand naked amorous ones dwell in ancient caves
Beneath my eyelids. Riches?
Here’s a pick,
My whole body is an emerald that begs,
“Take me.” Write all that worries you on a piece of parchment;
Offer it to God.
Even from the distance of a millennium I can lean the flame in my heart
Into your life And turn
All that frightens you
Into holy
Incense
Ash.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“I WISH I COULD SPEAK LIKE MUSIC I wish I could speak like music. I wish I could put the swaying splendor
Of the fields into words So that you could hold Truth
Against your body
And dance. I am trying the best I can
With this crude brush, the tongue, To cover you with light. I wish I could speak like divine music. I want to give you the sublime rhythms
Of this earth and the sky’s limbs As they joyously spin and surrender,
Surrender
Against God’s luminous breath. Hafiz wants you to hold me
Against your precious
Body And dance,
Dance.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT THAT MOON? A wine bottle fell from a wagon And broke open in a field. That night one hundred beetles and all their cousins Gathered And did some serious binge drinking. They even found some seed husks nearby And began to play them like drums and whirl. This made God very happy. Then the “night candle” rose into the sky And one drunk creature, laying down his instrument, Said to his friend—for no apparent Reason, “What should we do about that moon?” Seems to Hafiz Most everyone has laid aside the music Tackling such profoundly useless Questions.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“The tide of my love has risen so high let me flood over you.”
― Hafez, The Gift

“THE FOUNDATION FOR GREATNESS Greatness Is always built upon this foundation: The ability To appear, speak, and act As the most Common Man.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“তারপর ও, এতো বহু হাজার বছর পরেও,
সূর্য কখনো চাঁদকে বলে না,
‘তোমার রুপে্রছটা তো আমারই দান'।
সত্যিকারের ভালবাসা তো এমনই হয়,
ভালবাসার আলোয় সারা আকাশ ভেসে যায়।
translated by - Professon Khair Jahan Sogra, IBA, University of Dhaka”
― Hafez, The Gift

“Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision
Of your beautiful heart.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“English. I believe the ultimate gauge of success is this: Does the text free the reader? Does it contribute to our physical and emotional health? Does it put “golden tools” into our hands that can help excavate the Beloved whom we and society have buried so deep inside? Persian poets of Hafiz’s era would often address themselves in their poems, making the poem an intimate conversation. This was also a method of “signing” the poem, as one might sign a letter to a friend, or a painting. It should also be noted that sometimes Hafiz speaks as a seeker, other times as a master and guide. Hafiz also has a unique vocabulary of names for God—as one might have endearing pet names for one’s own family members. To Hafiz, God is more than just the Father, the Mother, the Infinite, or a Being beyond comprehension. Hafiz gives God a vast range of names, such as Sweet Uncle, the Generous Merchant, the Problem Giver, the Problem Solver, the Friend, the Beloved. The words Ocean, Sky, Sun, Moon, and Love, among others, when capitalized in these poems, can sometimes be synonyms for God, as it is a Hafiz trait to offer these poems to many levels of interpretation simultaneously. To Hafiz, God is Someone we can meet, enter, and eternally explore.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“THE SUN NEVER SAYS Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth, “You owe
Me.” Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master

“I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,
A Buddhist, a Jew. The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,”
― Hafez, The Gift: Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master