There are poets who craft beautiful lines. Then there is Hafiz—who opens a door in your chest and floods your soul with sunlight.

Born in 14th-century Persia, Hafiz (also spelled Hafez) wrote not just with ink and paper, but with the fire of divine love. His poems are whispers from the eternal, reminders of the vast joy and mystery waiting beneath the noise of daily life. For Hafiz, life was not a problem to solve or a ladder to climb—it was an ecstatic dance with the Beloved, a chance to throw your arms wide open and say yes to being alive.

“I Wish I Could Show You”

One of Hafiz’s most famous lines is this:

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

If there’s a single heartbeat running through Hafiz’s work, it’s this: you are already divine. You are already enough. The light you seek isn’t in the next promotion, the next relationship, or even the next prayer—it’s in you.

For Hafiz, spirituality wasn’t about escape or denial. It was about waking up. Waking up to the miracle of this breath. This moment. This body. He saw the divine not as some faraway force, but as something living in our laughter, our tears, even our clumsy humanity.

“The earth would die if the sun stopped kissing her.”

So Hafiz asks us: What kisses your soul awake? What makes you feel radiant, alive, free? That’s God. That’s love. That’s you.

Life as a Drunken Dance

Hafiz often used the metaphor of wine and drunkenness—not as a call to literal drinking, but as a symbol for spiritual ecstasy and surrender. He spoke of being “drunk on the wine of love,” letting go of ego and control, and falling into the arms of the infinite.

“An awake heart is like a sky that pours light.”

To live, according to Hafiz, is not to strive endlessly toward some abstract perfection. It is to surrender to beauty. To give in to joy. To trust that the universe is not indifferent to your existence—it adores you. And when you stop trying so hard to be something you’re not, you make room for grace.

He encourages us to let life carry us, rather than trying to carry it all.

“Now is the time to know that all that you do is sacred.”

Your breakfast is sacred. Your pain is sacred. That awkward moment at the grocery store—sacred. Hafiz levels the ground between sacred and mundane. Because in truth, everything is part of the same divine story.

The Beloved Within

For Hafiz, God wasn’t a remote judge in the sky. God was the Beloved. A friend. A partner in play. He writes:

“Even after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
‘You owe me.’
Look what happens with a love like that—
It lights the whole sky.”

This is the essence of Hafiz’s theology: unconditional love. God doesn’t require your fear. God isn’t keeping score. The divine simply gives. And we are called to do the same.

When Hafiz speaks of the Beloved, he’s not only pointing to God outside us—but also to the godliness within. He insists, poem after poem, that you are already the one you’ve been waiting for. The Beloved lives in your bones. The sacred is stitched into your smile.

“I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath moves through—
Listen to this music.”

Can you hear it? That music in your soul? That rhythm that calls you to kindness, to wonder, to love without a reason?

That’s life, according to Hafiz.

Don’t Be So Serious

One of Hafiz’s most surprising—and refreshing—traits is his humor. He doesn’t preach from a mountaintop. He laughs from the heart of life itself.

He teases us out of our seriousness:

“What do sad people have in common?
It seems they have all built a shrine to the past.
And often go there and do a strange wail and worship.
What is the beginning of happiness?
It is to stop being so religious like that.”

Hafiz knew the heaviness that comes with clinging to pain, perfectionism, and self-judgment. His cure? Lighten up. Laugh. Dance. Sing badly. Fall in love with the world again—even if it’s broken. Especially if it’s broken.

“Run my dear,
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.”

We are all fledglings in Hafiz’s eyes. Tender. Learning to fly. And he reminds us: the way forward is not through shame, but through compassion. Through joy.

Let Love Lead

Above all, Hafiz tells us: let love be your religion. Not doctrine. Not dogma. Just love.

“The heart is a thousand-stringed instrument
That can only be tuned with love.”

So many of us are waiting—for the right time, the right person, the right version of ourselves. Hafiz says: stop waiting. Love now. Speak now. Dance now. There is no other time.

Life, to Hafiz, is not something you master. It’s something you marvel at.

“This place where you are right now, God circled on a map for you.”

Wherever you are—in grief or joy, in clarity or confusion—that place is holy. That moment is your teacher. And love is the only compass you need.

The Invitation

Hafiz doesn’t give answers. He offers invitations.

To fall in love with your own soul.

To drop your masks and meet life honestly.

To become drunk—not on fear, but on wonder.

To walk outside, look up at the stars, and realize: you belong to this.

His words are not instructions. They are reminders of what you already know deep down—that you are made of light, and meant to shine.

“We have come into this exquisite world to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom, and light!”

So take Hafiz at his word.

Throw your head back. Laugh until you cry. Forgive like it’s your job. Tell someone you love them today. Trust the rhythm of your heart.

Because life, according to Hafiz, is not something to survive.

It’s something to sing.

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~Hafiz, also known as Hafez of Shiraz (c. 1315–1390), was a Persian mystic and poet whose lyrical verses are considered among the greatest in world literature. His poetry—collected in the Divan of Hafiz—blends love, humor, spiritual longing, and divine intoxication with a profound insight into the human soul. Revered by Sufis and scholars alike, Hafiz used beauty, metaphor, and playful irreverence to express the inexpressible. His work continues to inspire hearts across centuries, reminding us that joy, love, and divine presence are always within reach.

Excellence Reporter 2025