Carpe Diem #1166 Night-flower

Carpe Diem #1166 Night-flower

Photo Credit – hafiz

I’m exploring the beauty of Persian poetry – renown poets like Rumi, Hafez (or Hafiz) and Saadi.

Today the poem is by Hafez.

Hafiz, a Sufi poet, expressed in poetry love for the divine, and the intoxicating oneness of union with it.

Hafez has written a lot of poems in which he talks about the divine and love, but also full of wisdom.

His collected works are regarded as a pinnacle of Persian literature and are to be found in the homes of most people in Iran, who learn his poems by heart and still use them as proverbs and sayings.

His life and poems have been the subject of much analysis, commentary, and interpretation, influencing post-14th-century Persian writing more than any other author.

The following poem is by Hafez:

It is titled “All the Hemispheres”.

Leave the familiar for a while.

Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season

hai Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.

Make a new watermark on your excitement

And love.

Like a blooming night flower,

Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness

And giving

Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

Photo Credit – Ipomoea alba, morning glory.

Tanka – Inspired by the poem above and the picture of the moonflower.

fragrance happiness

night flower of beauty vanished

afraid of the sun

making a new watermark

stamped in the heavens above

Little info about this beautiful flower – Ipomoea alba, sometimes called the tropical white morning glory or moonflower (but not to be confused with the other species also called moonflower) or moon vine, is a species of night-blooming morning glory,

The flowers are fragrant, white or pink, and large, 8-14 cm diameter.

The flowers open quickly in the evening and last through the night, remaining open until touched by the morning sun.