A Little Poetry by Hafiz

I was out of the office unexpectedly yesterday due to illness. I am still not completely well. Today would be a good day not to hug me if you are so inclined. I will also be out of the office tomorrow and possibly Friday. I had Thursday planned in advance and I may extend my time off to include Friday. I appreciate that whenever I am not here and my daily thoughts don't go out, some people actually worry about me and wonder if I am OK. I am fine. Its been happening with greater frequency lately and I'm not sure why. Normally it is a rare thing for me to be ill.

Let's start our day with some poetry from Hafiz. These poems are taken from the collection entitled I Heard God Laughing...Poems of Hope and Joy.

Keeping Watch
In the morning when I began to awake, it happened again.That feeling that you, beloved, had stood over me all night keeping watch.That feeling that as soon as I began to stir,You put your lips on my forehead and lit a holy lamp inside my heart.

Recently while waiting for an elevator, I ran into someone I have known for a long time but hadn't seen in a while. I knew she loved blues music so I had to share with her my then recent experience of seeing Eric Clapton. We exchanged some emails about music and I started to share with her some of my collection. Needless to say, she's thrilled to find a musical gold mine like me. In a recent email she said, quite simply, "Music makes me happy"! I couldn't agree more. I could probably write daily thoughts everyday about the joy of music. Last night I read a poem by Hafiz about music. Actually, its more about being joyful than about music.

I Took It As A Sign
Someone sent a band to my house and it started playing at five in the morning.I took this as a sign that God wanted me to sing!The the moon joined in and a few of the tenor voiced stars,and the earth offered its lovely belly as a drum.Before I knew it, I realized all human beings could be happy,if they just had a few music lessons from a sweet old maestro like Hafiz.

I don't think there is much in my life that wasn't made better when music was added to the mix. It could be a great day or a bad day. I can be with friends or sitting alone in my room. Have you ever been driving down the road on a beautiful day with your favorite music playing? It can be such a happy moment that you feel as though your heart might leap out of your chest. Its total joy, pure and simple. Of course, I must also agree with something said by Fr. Matthew at the monastery. Even Beethoven played all day is noise. This statement comes from a man who loves jazz but values silence. Even the contemporary artist Sting has said "Silence is the perfect note". I am a person who is something of a fanatic about music but I, too, value silence. I recommend a nice balance of both.