Ecstatic Poetry

I happen to believe only poetry can begin to express the experience of transcendent pleasure, the ecstasy that follows success with the Aneros. I suspect many of you agree.

Of course transcendent pleasure is no recent invention; it has played a role in many spiritual traditions through history. I thought it might be fun and inspirational to collect poems here that touch on the subjects of pleasure and ecstasy, not just the work of established poets but also original poetry by members of this forum.

I have been searching for years for this poem and finally discovered it today. The author is probably my favorite poet: Shams-ud-Din Mohammed Hafez, or just Hafez (sometimes written "Hafiz"), a Sufi mystic of 14th century Persia. The title is, "You left a thousand women senseless."

Beloved,
Last time
When you walked through the city
So beautiful and so naked,

You left a thousand women senseless
And impossible to endure.

You left a thousand married men
Confused about their gender.

Children ran from their classrooms
And teachers were glad you came.

And the sun tried to break out
Of its royal cage in the sky
And at last, and at last,
Lay its Ancient Love at your feet.

If only you had permitted it,
All the world could have died like Hafiz,

Dancing with joy,
Filled with ecstasy,
Unbearable divine light.