Reading poetry aloud is a great practice.  My preference is ecstatic poetry or any poet who writes about nature.  I really enjoy Hafiz’ poetry.  Hafiz full name is Khwaja Shams ud-Din Hafiz-i Shirazi, d. 1389.  He was a Persian/Iranian poet and the master of the poetic form, ghazal.

Two qualities I love in Hafiz’ poetry:  (1) He addresses himself in the third person and (2) He opens up with complete vulnerability.  It is important to note that, while these poems can be interpreted for human-relationship love, in Sufi poetry “Beloved” is a reference to God.

Even if our world is turned upside down and blown over by the wind,

If you are doubtless, you won’t lose a thing.

 O Hafiz, if it is union with the Beloved that you seek,

Be the dust at the Wise One’s door, and speak!

“School of Truth,” from: Drunk On the Wind of the Beloved – Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

My own favorite is “I Know The Way You Can Get”.   It’s the best for describing how I feel when the pirates attack.  But when I read him aloud, they’re banished!

You might pull out a ruler to measure

From every angle in your darkness

The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once

Trusted.

“I know the Way You Can Get,” from:  I Heard God Laughing – Renderings of Hafiz – Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

 

Good websites with Hafiz poetry: http://peacefulrivers.homestead.com/hafiz.html#anchor_16107 or http://www.thesongsofhafiz.com/hafizpoetry.htm