poem
Volume 20, Number 1

Hafiz Reflects on Abundance


Life is saturated
with mystery and abundance.
Our earliest taste of this
is what leads each of us
on the quest of knowing;
of understanding the world
in which we live and breathe,
which skins our knees
as we learn to stand and walk.

Any taste of abundance,
be it sheer beauty or a good meal,
a parent's love, a friend's laughter,
is what continues that turning
within ourselves towards
a life of praise and thanksgiving;
a turning towards love—the soul's journey home.

These many gifts—the next breath,
the belly-laugh demolishing fear,
the capacity to yearn, the solace in longing—
my abundance is beyond counting.
Though sorrows follow in succession,
sharp as they are, they do not deflect
this heart, this voice
from its unfolding portion of gratitude.


—Tom Neale