I Know The Way You Can Get by Hafiz
by Steven McCabe
I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:
Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.
Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.
Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one’s self.
O I know the way you can get
If you have not been drinking Love:
You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.
You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.
You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
Trusted.
I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love’s
Hands.
That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.
That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!
All a Sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love!
From: I Heard God Laughing – Renderings of Hafiz
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
poemimage 
Haha, isn’t he delightful? This is glorious. “You might pull out a ruler to measure/From every angle in your darkness/The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once/Trusted.” And this, “… a strange look that appears in your eyes/Which even begins to worry your own mirror/And nose.”
Such charm, such wit. I love what you’ve accompanied it with. I know that little face of the ring-pull, the bloodied stains, and is that … the Minotaur?
Wonderful work. Thank you.
Hi Nel, Thank you for your thoughts and the new image you have engendered: the ‘coffee blood.’ I don’t know if it’s the Minotaur or not. Maybe so. Let me give this some contemplation. Yes it is truly a delightful poem. I love the slapstick elements slipped into the meaningful insights. At first the pull-tab coffee ‘god’ seemed South or Central American but after a while ‘he’ seemed from the age of stone and simply ‘the past.’
Reblogged this on Solid gold creativity and commented:
Such charm, such wit: Hafiz’s words and Steven’s art.
Thank you so much for reblogging this!
I will never look at another coffee tab the same;) I really enjoyed this one!
Thank you Heather. Neither will I! :- ) Voices in plastic, who would have thought?
Perfect poem for this hyper moon tonight, Steven. The air is heavy with “O I know the way you can get if you have not been drinking Love”
Thank you Jana. The moon was like a searchlight in a prison yard! Never seen it so bright. Yes, illumining, and catching in the act…
Wonderful images Steven. They work so well with the words.
Thank you Anna. Somehow it all fit! After the fact I was thinking, ‘Of course, coffee, Turkish coffee, Hafiz…’
Amazing! Compare with my favourite Russian poet Mayakovsky’s lines:
I showed upon a plate of brawny glutin
the slanting cheekbones of the ocean
Upon the scales of tinny fishes
new lips summoned, though yet mute.
(Source: http://www.russianlegacy.com/en/go_to/culture/poetry/mayakovsky.htm)
Hi Sunnysmile, Thank you for this Mayakovsky reference!
“Drinking love”! Beautiful.
It is so is it not? Thank you for your comment Mrs. Daffodil.
The poem is wonderful, Steven. I guess we could use more ‘sane’ men in the world; love makers, peacemakers. Your images make me smile with their wit and charm and their ancient and modem.
Well, there are times too when a cup of coffee feels very much like a cup of love.
Hi Karen, thank you for these thoughts. Yes, sane seems the way to go, for you, for me, for many of us, for Hafiz.
I like your poem here:
When a cup of coffee
Feels very much
Like a cup of
Love
I am living that poem right now!
Good morning. : )
Wonderful!
Wonderful, lithe poem, beautifully complemented.
Thank you Richard, nicely worded thought. Much appreciated.
Seems as though coffee is in the air. Hafiz’s words and your powerfully whimsical images bubble through my senses like percolating java. And the many angles and levels of love drift through all with the bitter sweet smell of caffeine. This was a delight Steven, a satisfying blend…
John I think you must have written your words in coffee! :- ) Thank you for this very liquid response: ‘The angles and levels of love…with the bitter, sweet smell…’ Many planes at work in your words!
Excellent use of text and images. Not only were they combined in an effective manner, you went the next step of using layout design – palcement of text and varying the size of the images to emphasize emotions. Very well done.
Thank you elmediat…for this message. I very much appreciate your eye and design evaluation. I’m glad an emotional component came through in this.
wonferful!!
Thank you Alejandra!
B E A U T I F U L . . .
The best work is the kind that causes one to weep during its unfolding. Also…wonderful text/imagery composition, Steven. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind words Michelle.