Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi

Contemporary

About Hafiz (Daniel Ladinsky)

Timeline (1945? - )

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Original Language
English

The Thousand-Stringed Instrument

Themes

Heart

Lover and Beloved

Smile

Recommended Books

	The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master, by Daniel Ladinsky
	I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky
	Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
	The Subject Tonight Is Love: 60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky

The heart is
The thousand-stringed instrument.

Our sadness and fear come from being
Out of tune with love.

All day long God coaxes my lips
To speak,

So that your tears will not stain
His green dress.

It is not that the Friend is vain,
It is just your life we care about.

Sometimes the Beloved
Takes my pen in hand,
For Hafiz is just a simple man.

The other day the Old One
Wrote on the Tavern wall:

“The heart is
The thousand-stringed instrument

That can only be tuned with
Love.”

-- from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master, by Daniel Ladinsky

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Hafiz (Daniel Ladinsky)

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World