Hafez poem interpretation – The Woman I love

Here is my interpretation of Hafez’s poem ‘The woman I love’

Because the Woman I love lives inside of you,

I lean as close to your body with my words as I can
and I think of you all the time,
dear pilgrim.

Hafez is talking to the woman he is in love with – he refers to her as the woman inside her – because he is actually in love with the soul (not merely the body) of this woman. So he says, instead of leaning his body closer to his lover’s – he prefers to lean closer to her with his words and thoughts. He cannot stop thinking of her.

Because the One I love goes with you wherever you go,
Hafiz will always be near.

He says, because he thinks of the one inside her all the time (this means God – as God dwells inside all of us) – he is going to be near her always, even though physically he is distant. He is alluding to the fact that we are all connected via energy and via God as we all are nothing but unit consciousness.

If you sat before me, wayfarer, with your aura bright from
your many charms,

my lips could resist rushing to you, but my eyes, my eyes
can no longer hide the wondrous fact of who
you really are.

He says that if he were physically beside the woman he loves, he would see her aura shining around her bright. This bright aura is an indication of the many good quality that this woman cultivates within her being – here is where he gets a glimpse of God within her. He says, he could control himself from the urge to kiss her – but his eyes are going to give him away. They are going to give away the secret that he is in awe of her and that he can clearly see the divinity that lives inside her and is very much in love with it. He calls her pilgrim and traveller to show the fact that ultimately, she is on her way to be one with God.

The Beautiful One whom I adore
has pitched Her royal tent inside of you,

so I will always lean my heart
as close to your soul
as I can.

He says, God has made a permanent home inside her. And so he will try to be with her soul always, through his heart – love, prayer and thoughts. He is talking here about a divine kind of love, where the lover does not physically need the beloved in his life. It is a love that surpasses physical limitation. It is a love that extends into the 5D of love, thoughts and prayers – where he can love her through any distance and where one day, they both will be one with God and merge with each other in him.

Taken from The Subject Tonight is Love by Daniel Ladinsky

Image credit : Bernd Vogel / Corbis