Echoes No.4: Baharak's Voice

"Today is the Festival of Hafez! All of the people in Shiraz, residents and visitors together, celebrate the poet we most love. Flowers bloom in gardens, along streets, in the hands of lovers. Everywhere they bloom, as if each were a poem made of fragrance instead of words, and we breathe that enlivened air. The only thing sweeter than this air is the poetry of Hafez... Everywhere people recite and sing Hafez's words, some even dance to them, like the Sufis in the ecstasy of love. It is as if no time separates us from Hafez's presence in the city he loved. Hafez said, Shiraz honey flows in Shiraz streets. Hafez said, Khidr's stream is hard to find, hidden in the land of night, but Ruknabad flows down mountains slopes into Shiraz, and gives us the purest water. Hafez said, O Poets of Every Age, listen with your eternal hearts, sing with your immortal voices and leap into lasting ecstasy! "At this moment, I feel only the goodness of life, only the generosity of my friends, only the kindness of my mother, only the joy of this day. Where does all this goodness come from? Who is the Giver? That question contains its own answer. Surely, this goodness descends from Heaven as God's gift to all of us. All of it - Hafez's poetry, our celebration, the flowers and the streams, work and wonder, the various loves humans shower over each other - all of this is blessed by God. And as He watches, His eyes are pleased by what he sees! ! " (This poem is a response to Baharak's email about the National Day in Iran which celebrates the great poet, HAFEZ, in his beloved city of SHIRAZ.)