Admit Something

Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to
them, “Love me.”

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise
someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us
to connect.

Why not become the one who lives with a full
moon in each eye that is always saying,

with that sweet moon language, what every other
eye in this world is dying to hear?

—by Hafiz…or Daniel Ladinsky…or both? Published in The Sun, October 2013.

“Admit Something” is the best poem I’ve ever read on love. It circulates as a poem by the Sufi mystic-poet Hafiz (alternately, “Hafez”), who lived in the 14th century in Shiraz, Iran, but poems like this one from Daniel Ladinsky’s books are not so much translations of Hafiz’s work as they are “renderings” of the mystic poet. I think it’s interesting that Mr. Landinsky does not take credit for the poems. That he gives it to Hafiz. Some are critical of this approach, but any writer who’s ever been in a flow state, whose ever been held captive by “the muse,” knows what it’s like to feel you had little part in what came out on the page. Maybe the experience that Mr. Ladinsky describes of writing these poems with Hafiz isn’t so incomprehensible to me because in my Catholic tradition it’s not uncommon for people to have special relationships with certain saints, or to describe what they have written as direct revelations from beings who have long since passed on from this world. However the process works for Mr. Ladinsky, he has delivered to us poetry that lays bare the longings of the human heart.

“Admit Something” does this so eloquently I don’t feel I can offer any commentary that would add anything of value. In fact, when I’m old(er), if the youngins come around asking for life advice, I plan to look at them over the rims of my glasses and, through the parted drapes of my long silvery hair, simply and mysteriously reply, “Live with a full moon in each eye.”

You can find Hafiz’s collected works in the original Persian/Farsi or in English translation (though the translations mostly seem to be poorly reviewed ) in the Divan of Hafiz. You can find more of Daniel Ladinsky’s renderings of Hafiz in his books.

You can also listen to a wonderful recording of some of Hafiz’s (translated) ghazals by the incredible Samaneri Jayasāra below.

Tales From the Liminal now available as an audiobook on all your favorite platforms!