A Poem for Thanksgiving

Cupping My Hands Like a Mountain Valley By Hafiz Translated Daniel Ladinsky The Gift, page 261 Like the way the valleys of the earth Cup their hands for light and drink, Like the way the desert opens up its sweet mouth And laughs When someone melts pearls in the sky And rain, rain Returns like a divine lover With a hundred wonderful gifts O, the words from the true Teacher Bring my mind and cells Such sacred nourishment and life. When the moon is full It gets gregarious and likes to chat. I have heard it say, "Look what can happen, dear seeker, When you lean your graceful arms toward God in prayer, Look at all that amorous light you can catch That will help the night musicians and your soul Get loose." I stand revolving like a great dervish In an ecstatic submission to His will. I have been hired to perform the final act of grace. I am the priest in every sacred wedding tent. Tonight I am a sovereign planet With a great wool skirt. I am a divine artist One stage before God's entire court. With each sublime whirl and orbit I bow to the Sun's feet. I fill my glass for you, dear pilgrim, Beneath the luminous leaking barrel. I then pour all the contents of my heart And eye's experience Upon this banquet table, For your body and mind are a precious silk cloth Hafis has come to dye! I circumambulate the Truth from the sky Like a golden vulture. I have forsaken all the crippling manners Of even the most royal birds. I carry a lute in my talons like a mortal weapon. Please, please enter into a holy battle with me. For I am God's friend Who maims with compassion! And you are a lost dove upon His wing. I can teach you How to bribe the Beloved with an angelic tune So that the divine manna of His glance Will fall upon your palate. Some days I know You are being trained as an emissary To serve in his office of joy. Dear one, Last night, in the gallery of Reality I saw a portrait I will never forget: The Beloved was stirring a pot With a spoon the size of a universe And when He lifted it I saw this whole world and its affairs Were not even a floating speck of a barley Before the radiance of two diamonds That were His brilliant cheeks! All I could do when beholding that vision Was to fall upon my knees And cup my hands like a humble valley Huddled between the thights Of this exquisite, holy mountain range And try to build a resevoir to hold the Beloved's Resplendent smile That offers myriad tickets to freedom, That offers the splendor of hearing God sing! I am the spinning wheel upon the infinite. I have swallowed the axis and hub That fathered light and truth. Grab hold and swing from me, my dear, Doing the impossible With your hands and feet both clapping. I offer a mother's comfort and knowledge To those who are tired and weak. And when you become strong I will conduct like a skilled warior-king Your divine volcanic glands exploding like new galaxies In all their blessed madness. God offers love, love, love With His own hands, To your beautiful parched holy mouth. Open your soul, handsome, dying one. See all gender talk like a mighty joke, In a oneness as glorious like this! Hafiz, go running from that gallery Like a naked drunk lion Roaring with a laughter that will shake The whole earth And every window and door throughout the sleeping Cities, Like a man, Like a man who is delivering on a great steed Fantastic news! Tie yourself as a bell To herds of mating camels And spring flocks of clouds and birds. Tie yourself to spawning stars And to leaping whales In a game of tag with the Moon! Tie yourself to everything in creation That got poured from God's magic hat. O, tie your soul like a magnificent sweet chime To every leaf and limb in existence, That begin to shout divine obscenities So that he will sure send a tremendous storm. Because Hafiz, because Hafiz, O, sweet Hafiz, You are a man with such benevolent and fantastic Good News! Dear wayfarer, Now indulge me in a sober moment. Please set down your glass. I can help you write a letter of resignation To all your fears and sadness. Listen: Let all movement and sound, Let all movement and sound Begin to speak the truth to your heart And write its music upon your vision and Soft pink tongue. Soak all your prejudices in oil- I would consider it a favor. Bring and sing to me your darkest thoughts, For my whole body is blazing emerald wick, I am a pure flame Who needs and loves to burn. We should lean against each other more In such a strange world as this That can make you scared And even believe in that lie called death. We should support each other more Give more warmth In such a demanding world as this. Let all movement Gently yield something of God Upon your chin and vision And roll down on your prayer mat That will take root in the holy soil of your surrender. May I hone your devotion with a kiss? For all in existence is just spinning like this Sweet earth In a divine current. Why not dance like Hafiz in the cup, In the cup of His spoon? I offer my clapping spirit to you, That is in eternal movement. Hafiz offersto bow at your feet With hands that god has shaped and pounded. Look in my palms, my dear, They now contain your face and infinite existence. All your ideas of space and time are shadows That will run from this Sun She has made me. I want to tie myself As a gift around your neck. I want to place a wonderful secret Near your veins. Why not use my verse as a golden camel bell That you can turn upside down into a chalice And fill with wine? Hafiz, You are a divine camel bell That the Beloved is ringing with his own hand. Hafiz you were a blessed slave to Truth That died like a cut reed and became hollow- Turned into a divine instrument That God now lifts to His own mouth, Plays to summon this world to freedom. How many man exist upon this earth To whom I could whisper a holy secret? Dear ones, "God has sown Himself onto my tongue." Like the way The valleys of the earth Cup their hands for light and drink, Like The way The desert opens up its sweet mouth And laughs When someone melts pearls in the sky An rain, rain Returns like a divine lover With a thousands wonderful Gifts, O, the luminous words of my Beloved Now bring my mind and soul Such a sacred Nourishment And Peace.