Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Carpe Diem #1169 humble


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

In the second episode of this month I introduced to you the Persian poet Hafiz. Hafiz is one of the most loved Persian poets ever. His poems are used for giving answers on burning questions the reader has. The following poem is again a beauty, but I don't think in this poem you will find an answer on burning questions, but ... well you never know.
This poem is titled: "from the large jug, drink".

Persian jug

From the large jug, drink the wine of Unity,
So that from your heart you can wash away the futility of life's grief.
But like this large jug, still keep the heart expansive.
Why would you want to keep the heart captive, like an unopened bottle
of wine?
With your mouth full of wine, you are selfless
And will never boast of your own abilities again.
Be like the humble stone at your feet rather than striving to be like a
Sublime cloud: the more you mix colors of deceit, the more colorless
your ragged wet coat will get.
Connect the heart to the wine, so that it has body,
Then cut off the neck of hypocrisy and piety of this new man.
Be like Hafiz: Get up and make an effort. Don't lie around like a bum.
He who throws himself at the Beloved's feet is like a workhorse and will
be rewarded with boundless pastures and eternal rest.

© Hafiz - From: Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved (Tr. Thomas Rain Crowe)
All and Everything is Buddha
A nicely written poem with a true life's lesson I think. Let me point this out to you. To explain this I have to reproduce a part of this poem.
[...] "Be like the humble stone at your feet rather than striving to be like a
Sublime cloud: the more you mix colors of deceit, the more colorless
your ragged wet coat will get." [...]


In this "quote" I read what the spiritual roots are of haiku (and tanka). Be one with nature, be as nature, be that stone at your feet. Don't place your self in front of it, but be humble, be humble and praise nature. This is what the Zen-Buddhism background of haiku has taught us ... everyone and everything around you is Buddha. In all and everything Buddha is present. Be one ...

Humble ... what is humble, being humble? In my opinion humble means respecting nature, respecting the gift of the gods that you may be here and be part of life, part of nature. I have said it very often here at CDHK I think "your humble host" and that is true. I love to create CDHK, but I don't create it for myself ... I create it for you my dear haijin, visitors and travelers. I create CDHK just to give you the opportunity to improve your haiku and tanka writing skills ... to give you a moment of silence, excitement and unconditional love. CDHK ... is for you and I am just your humble host, the one who is given this opportunity by a Higher Power, God, Allah or what ever name you use for it.
I am grateful that I can and may be your host.


Next to the above haiga I found two haiku in which I share my gratefulness for being your host.

unseen flowers
between the oversized leaves -
a humble haijin



joy of writing
for all the friends of Carpe Diem -
makes me humble
© Chèvrefeuille
Well ... I hope I have inspired you with this post and mostly of course through this beautiful poem by Hafiz.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 12th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, fountain, later on. For now ... have fun!

 

2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for being our host Kristjaan! You are awesome with all your admirable work here!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting culturally - your humble flowers haiku.. masterful.

    ReplyDelete