Hafiz, 'the memorizer or the [safe] keeper, is the pen name of a 14th-century Persian Sufi mystic and poet (his nickname for having memorized the Quran at a very tender age).
(transl. by Daniel Ladinsky)
Only
That Illumined
One
Who keeps
Seducing the formless into form
Had the charm to win my
Heart.
Only a Perfect One
Who is always
Laughing at the word
Two
Can make you know
Of
Love.
(transl. by Daniel Ladinsky)
I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:
Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.
Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.
Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one’s self.
O I know the way you can get
If you have not been drinking Love:
You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.
You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.
You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
Trusted.
I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love’s
Hands.
That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.
That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!
All a Sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love!
(transl. by Michael Boylan)
For years my heart sought the cup of Jamshid from me,
What it had, the heart went pursuing
From the stranger it was pursuing
Inner secrets of the sacred mysteries.
A pearl beyond the shell of space and time
The pearl my heart was seeking
The cup my heart was seeking
From those lost on the shore of brine.
Late last night I took my question
To the elder Mage I went
To solve the riddle I went
For his sight was from God's direction.
What I saw was great laughter and joy.
With overflowing cup
He stood there with the cup
That from within reflected a hundred mysteries.
I asked him then, "Please tell me when
The Sage gave thee the cup?"
He answered that the cup
Was presented on the day the Sage made heaven.
One searching heart was sorely grieving;
Though in his heart -- was God,
His eye viewed not -- God,
And so he cried to God while still concealing.
In contrast to Sorcery, let Wisdom conjure here.
As the twisting staff of Moses
In the glowing hand of Moses
Those very inner mysteries which we hold most dear.
Remember the friend whose claim divine,
"I am the Truth," said he.
"The secrets are mine," said he.
Gave up his life for revealin the sign.
If the Holy Spirit shall will the gift,
Then others may be empowered
With miracles be empowered
Like the Messiah the dead to lift.
"What purpose serves the chain of braids?" says me.
Replied the Mage, "It's a complaint, Hafez,
"From searching, Hafez,
"That comes from a heart full of frenzy."
(transl. by Daniel Ladinsky)
Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.
If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
By your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.
Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
And wants to rip to shreds
All your erroneous notions of truth
That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And with others,
Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.
God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.
The Beloved sometimes wants
To do us a great favor:
Hold us upside down
And shake all the nonsense out.
But when we hear
He is in such a “playful drunken mood”
Most everyone I know
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it
Out of town.
was an easy thing
But my feet have fallen on difficult ways.
is your sight
The only thing I follow is your light.
Everyone finds his repose in sleep,
Sleep from my eyes has taken flight.
جز نـقـش تو در نـظر نیامد ما را
جز کوی تو رهـگذر نیامد ما را
خواب ارچه خوش آمد همه را در عهدت
حـقا کـه بـه چشم در نیامد ما را
(transl. by Daniel Ladinsky)
I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself
A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,
a Buddhist, a Jew.
The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me
That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even a pure
Soul.
Love has
Befriended Hafiz so completely
It has turned to ash
And freed
Me
Of every concept and image
my mind has ever known.
open my grave and see
The cloud of smoke that rises round your feet
In my dead heart the fire still burns for thee.