The Size of the Love-Bruise

I tried and tried not to buy any books this year......well, I failed. But so worth this failure.

Here is a poem by Hafiz (sufi poet 1300's) from A Year with Hafiz (Landinsky). It's also in another book called The Gift.

THE SIZE OF THE LOVE-BRUISE

The gauge of a good poem is........the size of the love-bruise it leaves on your neck.

Or the size of the love-bruise it tattoos on your brain.

Or the size of the love-lump it can weave into your soul.

Or, indeed, it could be all of the above,
why not?

(truly most of his poems leave love-bruises)