There is a beautiful creature living
in a hole you have
dug,

so at night I set fruit and grains and little pots of wine and milk
beside your soft earthen 
mounds,

and I often sing to you,
but still, my dear, you do not come out.

I have fallen in love with someone 
who is hiding inside
of you.

We should talk about this problem,
otherwise I will never
leave you
alone!

from Love Poems from God. Published by Penguin Compass. Copyright © 2002 by Daniel Ladinsky, Ed.

I love the playfulness in Hafiz, especially as translated by Daniel Ladinsky. There’s always a sense of longing in his poems, an affirmation of our desire for connection, which in itself is a lament.  However, as in the poems of the Psalter, Hafiz always offers a hopeful reassurance of our belovedness.