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Sat 22 Mar, 2003 08:29 am
Hafiz of Shiraz (1230-91) the greatest lyric poet of Persia, who took the poetic form of the ghazal to unparalleled heights of subtlety and beauty.
I speak frankly and that makes me happy:
I am the slave of love, I am free of both worlds.
I am a bird from heaven's garden. How do I describe that separation,
my fall into this snare of accidents?
I was an angel and highest paradise was my place.
Adam brought me to this monastery in the city of ruin.
The hours' caress, the pool and shade trees of paradise
were forgotten in the breeze from your alleyway.
There is nothing on the tablet of my heart but my love's tall alif.
What can I do? My master taught me no other letter.
No astrologer knew the constellations of my fate.
O lord, when I was born of mother earth which stars were rising?
Ever since I became a slave at the door of love's tavern
sorrows come to me each moment with congratulations.
The pupil of my eye drains the blood from my heart.
I deserve it. Why did I give my heart to the darling of others?
Wipe the tears from Hafiz's face with soft curls
or else this endless torrent will uproot me.
Hafiz - Ghazal 44 - "The Green Sea of Heaven" - Elizabeth T. Gray
Come,
let's scatter roses and pour wine in the glass;
we'll shatter heaven's roof and lay a new foundation.
If sorrow raises armies to shed the blood of lovers,
I'll join with the wine bearer so we can overthrow them.
With a sweet string at hand, play a sweet song, my friend,
so we can clap and sing a song and lose our heads in dancing.
Hafiz (Ghani-Qazvini, no 374) ' the Shambhala Guide to Sufism' Carl.W Ernst, Ph.D.
Sanai (1118-1152) (Abû'l-Majd Majdûd b. Adam Sanâ'î) is reckoned the first of the great mystical poets of Persia. He produced many lyrical poems and religious epic, The Walled Garden of Truth or the Enclosed Garden of Truth (The HADÎQATU' L-HAQÎQAT).
'The Puzzle'
Someone who keeps aloof from suffering
is not a lover. I choose your love
above all else. As for wealth
if that comes, or goes, so be it.
Wealth and love inhabit separate worlds.
But as long as you live here inside me,
I cannot say that I am suffering.
Sanai, translation by Coleman Barks - 'Persian Poems'
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