Why Not Dance?

Nagasaki Lantern Festival

YOUR SEED POUCH
—Hafiz

Lanterns

Hang from the night sky

So that your eye might draw

One more image of love upon your silk canvas

Before sleep.

Words from Him have reached you

And tilled a golden field inside.

When all your desires are distilled

You will cast just two votes:

To love more,

And be happy.

Take the sounds from the mouth-flute of Hafiz

And mix them into your seed pouch.

And when the Moon says,

"It is time to

Plant,"

Why not dance,

Dance and 

Sing?

(trans. from the Persian by Daniel Landinsky)

_________________________

—Medusa