as translated by Daniel Ladinsky

---

I Am So Glad

Start seeing everything as God,
But keep it a secret.

Become like a man who is Awestruck
And Nourished

Listening to a Golden Nightingale
Sing in a beautiful foreign language
While God invisibly nests
Upon its tongue.

Hafiz,
Who can you tell in this world
That when a dog runs up to you
Wagging its ecstatic tail,
You lean down and whisper in its ear,

      “Beloved,
I am so glad You are happy to see me.

     Beloved,
I am so glad,
So very glad you have come.”

---

Keeping Watch

In the morning
When I began to wake,
    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.

Submitted by Ruth McEwen. Photograph: Catharine Krieps