Daniel Ladinsky, the renowned American poet and interpreter of mystical poetry, asserts that the 14th-Century Persian poet Hafiz’s work is uplifting and conveying deep insights on life:

The second story echoes a sensuousness, that is so much a part of the human dynamic, and that Hafiz fully embraces, and often uses as a springboard to heaven—as the body and its desires can be. It goes:

A rather serious—maybe too serious—university student from another country came to Hafiz to personally ask for his permission to translate some of Hafiz’s poems into a little book.

And he said to Hafiz, “What is the essential quality in your poems that I need to incorporate in my translations to make them abiding and authentic?”

And Hafiz smiled, and placed his arms on the man’s shoulders, then said, “Do you really want to know?” And the young man said, “Of course.”

“Well, well then,” Hafiz began and continued, “My poems lift the corners of the mouth—the soul’s mouth, the heart’s mouth. And can effect any opening that can make love.”

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