Daniel Ladinsky’s unforgettable lyrical poems are inspired by the cherished verse of Hafiz, one of the greatest Sufi poets of all time.

Perhaps more than any other Persian poet, it is Hafiz who most fully accesses the mystical, healing dimensions of verse.  Daniel Ladinsky’s poems are not translations in a literal sense.  Rather than capture the form of a particular classical poem, Ladinsky has made it his life’s work to create modern interpretations inspired by the world’s most profound spiritual poetry. Through Ladinsky’s poems, Hafiz’s voice comes alive across the centuries, singing his timeless message of love.

The Subject Tonight Is LoveIntroduction
Where Dolphins Dance
The Woman I Love
Forgiveness Is the Cash
All the Hemispheres
The Vegetables
At This Party
Why All This Talk?
In a Handful of God
Because of Our Wisdom
We Keep Each Other Happy
Castrating an Ego
This Place Where You Are Right Now
In a Tree House
We Are a Couple of Barroom Sailors
No Other Kind of Light
Not with Wings
Venus Just Asked Me
The Size of the Love Bruise
The Theater of Freedom
You Say, I Say
Where Do You Think You Will Be?
The Day Sky
Among Strong Men
Beautiful Hands
Old Sweet Beggar
Out of the Mouths of a Thousand Birds
I Knew We Would Be Friends
Build a House for Men
That Sounds Wonderful
A Singing Cleaning Woman
Your Shape of Laughter
Something I Have Learned
And a Big Herd of Sweet Goats
Narrow the Difference
The Small Table of Time and Space
The Happy Virus
The Wonderful Lawlessness
They Call to You to Sing
Your Medicine
It Happens All the Time in Heaven
The Guardians of His Beauty
The Subject Tonight Is Love
I Saw You Dancing
Never Say It Is Not God
Absolutely Clear
Ten Thousand Idiots
To Anything That Moved
Carrying God
I Cherish Your Ears
Deepening the Wonder
Will Beat You Up
I Follow Barefoot
Join Me in the Pure Atmosphere
Some Angels Grumble
Playing in the Brilliance
Like the Ganges
And Acting So Cool
A Potted Plant
Just Sit There
A Suspended Blue Ocean
© Kevin D. Mann
Daniel Ladinsky is an acclaimed poet and renderer of mystical poetry. His books include The Gift, The Subject Tonight Is Love, I Heard God Laughing, A Year with Hafiz, Love Poems from God, The Purity of Desire, and Darling, I Love You. For six years, he made his home in a spiritual community in western India, where he worked and lived with the intimate disciples and family of Avatar Meher Baba. He lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. View titles by Daniel Ladinsky

About

Daniel Ladinsky’s unforgettable lyrical poems are inspired by the cherished verse of Hafiz, one of the greatest Sufi poets of all time.

Perhaps more than any other Persian poet, it is Hafiz who most fully accesses the mystical, healing dimensions of verse.  Daniel Ladinsky’s poems are not translations in a literal sense.  Rather than capture the form of a particular classical poem, Ladinsky has made it his life’s work to create modern interpretations inspired by the world’s most profound spiritual poetry. Through Ladinsky’s poems, Hafiz’s voice comes alive across the centuries, singing his timeless message of love.

Table of Contents

The Subject Tonight Is LoveIntroduction
Where Dolphins Dance
The Woman I Love
Forgiveness Is the Cash
All the Hemispheres
The Vegetables
At This Party
Why All This Talk?
In a Handful of God
Because of Our Wisdom
We Keep Each Other Happy
Castrating an Ego
This Place Where You Are Right Now
In a Tree House
We Are a Couple of Barroom Sailors
No Other Kind of Light
Not with Wings
Venus Just Asked Me
The Size of the Love Bruise
The Theater of Freedom
You Say, I Say
Where Do You Think You Will Be?
The Day Sky
Among Strong Men
Beautiful Hands
Old Sweet Beggar
Out of the Mouths of a Thousand Birds
I Knew We Would Be Friends
Build a House for Men
That Sounds Wonderful
A Singing Cleaning Woman
Your Shape of Laughter
Something I Have Learned
And a Big Herd of Sweet Goats
Narrow the Difference
The Small Table of Time and Space
The Happy Virus
The Wonderful Lawlessness
They Call to You to Sing
Your Medicine
It Happens All the Time in Heaven
The Guardians of His Beauty
The Subject Tonight Is Love
I Saw You Dancing
Never Say It Is Not God
Absolutely Clear
Ten Thousand Idiots
To Anything That Moved
Carrying God
I Cherish Your Ears
Deepening the Wonder
Will Beat You Up
I Follow Barefoot
Join Me in the Pure Atmosphere
Some Angels Grumble
Playing in the Brilliance
Like the Ganges
And Acting So Cool
A Potted Plant
Just Sit There
A Suspended Blue Ocean

Author

© Kevin D. Mann
Daniel Ladinsky is an acclaimed poet and renderer of mystical poetry. His books include The Gift, The Subject Tonight Is Love, I Heard God Laughing, A Year with Hafiz, Love Poems from God, The Purity of Desire, and Darling, I Love You. For six years, he made his home in a spiritual community in western India, where he worked and lived with the intimate disciples and family of Avatar Meher Baba. He lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. View titles by Daniel Ladinsky