Hafiz, a Sufi poet, expressed in poetry love for the divine, and the intoxicating oneness of union with it. Hafiz, along with many Sufi masters, uses wine as the symbol for love. The intoxication that results from both is why it is such a fitting comparison. Hafiz spoke out about the hypocrisy and deceit that exists in society, and was more outspoken in pointing this out than many poets similar to him.

I once asked a bird, how is it that you fly in this gravity of darkness?
She responded, 'love lifts me.'

~ Hafiz

Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images.

If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside...
For your faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as soft as feather.

~ Shams I' Tabrizi

"The path to the Truth is a labour of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge and ultimately prevail over your nafs (fears, worries, doubts, attachments, etc) with your heart. Knowing your ego will lead you to the knowledge of God."

~ Shams Tabrizi

"I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being."

~ Hafiz

Dear moon,
Now that your love is maturing,
We need to sit together
Close like this more often.

~ Hafiz

Where the flame of Love rises, the knowledge of God unfolds itself.

~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

I wish something very much like this for all of us this year.

"Now is the time

for you to deeply compute

the impossibility

that there is anything

but Grace."

~ Hafiz/Ladinsky The Gift p.160

                                                          ~

Know, the true nature of your Beloved.
In His loving eyes, your every thought,
Word and movement is always –
Always Beautiful.

~ Hafiz

Go slow my mind, everything happens at its own pace.
The gardener may water with a hundred pots,
but the fruit will appear only in its season.

~ Kabir

. . . . .

Go slow, my mind, trust in the rhythm of time.
The sun may rise and set, the winds may change their face,
Yet the earth moves in harmony, each cycle in its prime.
The seed you've planted needs its space to grow,
For in the quiet moments, roots will intertwine,
And when the time is right, the blooms will show,
The fruit will ripen, sweet, in nature's perfect line.