Learning from Hafez

"VINCENT and HAFEZ":

We are in the middle of responding to a recent Blog on this site, trashing Hafez as a
paedophile. Sometimes, to answer, you just go off on a tangent and do
more of what you believe in. I've learned that from Hafez. And I have
always wanted to honor the parallels in Hafez's beauty and the beauty of
Van Gogh's art and writings

Vincent Van Gogh wrote delectably,  something many people aren't aware of. His letters and thoughts to his brother Theo - with John Hurt's voice as "Vincent", are documented in a movie I can't recommend enough. (VIcnent: Life and Death of Van Gogh) It's just exquisite.

I have often thought that if Vincent and Hafez were to have ever met, they would have been the best of friends. The below quotes from Van Gogh, are words that could very well have come out of the mouth of Hafez himself:

-- "A good picture is equivalent to a good deed."

-- "An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm hear for his fellow men."

-- "I think that everything that is really good and beautiful, the inner, moral, spiritual and sublime beauty in men and their works, comes from God, and everything that is bad and evil in the works of men and in men is not from God..."

-- "It is better to be high spirited, even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent."

-- "The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."

In today's Blog - "Stars" are the theme. How they inspired both the poet and the artist - and shone some hope onto their lives,  and fed their longings. Literally for Vincent, and the "star" of his life, for Hafez.

HAFEZ:

ستاره ای   بدرخشید و ماه  مجلس شد

دل  رمیده ما را  رفیق  و  مونس  شد

Setareh-i bedarakhshid o mah-eh majless shod

Del ramideh-yeh ma ra rafigh o mouness  shod

A star appeared and became our community's hope and moon

Comforting our disillusioned and broken hearts not a moment too soon

VAN GOGH: 

"Starry Night" is one of his best known paintings and Vincent has a beautiful quote on why and when he paints the stars"

"When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion, then I go out and paint the stars"

The thought of  these "stars", real or metaphoric,  bringing solace to  both Hafez and Vincent, inspired this Blog. I have no doubt they would have made the best of friends if ever had they lived in the same time and place. They are both "stars" in my life.

STARRY NIGHTS:

Finally, thank you Don McLean for this wonderfully inspired tribute to Vincent, and "Starry Nigh" - that I'm posting for your pleasure here. Artists invigorate each other in a continued chain -  and this song is a wonderful testament to how from the depth of one soul, another is inspired and ultimately creates.

Afsaneh Mirfendereski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkvLq0TYiwI