Hafiz

The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.

God, I love Hafiz. He’s a Sufi mystic poet from the 14th century. I don’t even remember how I stumbled across him but his poems are witty and beautiful and jaw-dropping. Once, I sat on the floor of our public library and read a whole book of poems, tucked away in the rarely-visited poetry section of the Adult Non-Fiction section.

I love how he relates to God is an irrevent way, like God is his friend. How dare he talk about dancing drunkenly with god.

This poem is one of my favorites because I love the idea of a sage dropping keys for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners. It’s so unexpected and maybe even undeserved and yet the sage knows that is what brings life.

May we all drop keys for the beautiful rowdy prisoners in our midst (and in ourselves). We need some more key-dropping ’round these parts.