Poets Nook: “Why Aren't We Screaming Drunks?" by Hafiz

 

 

The sun once glimpsed God's true nature
And has never been the same.

Thus that radiant sphere
Constantly pours its energy
Upon this earth
As does He from behind
The veil.

With a wonderful God like that
Why isn't everyone a screaming drunk?

Hafiz's guess is this:

Any thought that you are better or less
Than another man

Quickly
Breaks the wine
Glass.

 

(A poem of Hafiz as re-rendered by contemporary American poet Daniel Ladinsky)