Echoes No.4: Baharak's Voice Poem by Daniel Brick

"Today is the Festival of Hafez!
All of the people in Shiraz,
residents and visitors together,
celebrate the poet we most love.
Flowers bloom in gardens, along
streets, in the hands of lovers.
Everywhere they bloom, as if each
were a poem made of fragrance
instead of words, and we breathe
that enlivened air. The only thing
sweeter than this air is the poetry
of Hafez... Everywhere people
recite and sing Hafez's words, some
even dance to them, like the Sufis
in the ecstasy of love. It is as if
no time separates us from Hafez's
presence in the city he loved.
Hafez said, Shiraz honey flows
in Shiraz streets. Hafez said,
Khidr's stream is hard to find, hidden
in the land of night, but Ruknabad flows
down mountains slopes into Shiraz, and
gives us the purest water. Hafez said,
O Poets of Every Age, listen with your
eternal hearts, sing with your immortal
voices and leap into lasting ecstasy!

"At this moment, I feel only the goodness
of life, only the generosity of my friends,
only the kindness of my mother, only the joy
of this day. Where does all this goodness
come from? Who is the Giver? That question
contains its own answer. Surely, this goodness
descends from Heaven as God's gift to all of us.
All of it - Hafez's poetry, our celebration,
the flowers and the streams, work and wonder,
the various loves humans shower over each other -
all of this is blessed by God. And as He watches,
His eyes are pleased by what he sees! ! "

(This poem is a response to Baharak's email about the National Day
in Iran which celebrates the great poet, HAFEZ, in his beloved city
of SHIRAZ.)