Building a Swing

You carry
All the ingredients
To turn your life into a nightmare-
Don’t mix them!

You have all the genius
To build a swing in your backyard
For God.

That sounds
Like a hell of a lot more fun.
Let’s start laughing, drawing blueprints,
Gathering our talented friends.

I will help you
With my divine lyre and drum.

Hafiz
Will sing a thousand words
You can take into your hands,
Like golden saws,
Sliver hammers,

Polished teakwood,
Strong silk rope.

You carry all the ingredients
To turn your existence into joy,
Mix them, mix
Them!

Hafiz, Persian mystic and poet (1325/26–1389/90) in “To Build a Swing” translated by Daniel Ladinsky

The silence on this blog stands in inverse relationship to the activity over the past weeks as staff rallied to prepare for the opening of the museum by His Highness the Aga Khan on Friday.

This grand event was followed by the launch of the museum's performing arts program with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble under the auditorium's stunning muqarna-inspired dome. The ensemble's fusion of western and eastern musical traditions achieved through listening, empathy, respect and friendship among the diversity of musicians, lifted the spirits of everyone in the audience with its incredible positive energy.

Everyone, including those exhausted by the intense activity over the past weeks, felt the meaning of the words of Hafiz that introduced the evening:

We carry all the ingredients to turn our lives into joy, mix them!