Persian Literature, Volume 1,Comprising The Shah Nameh, The
by
Anonymous
Part 9 out of 9
Who of a Heaven on earth can tell, pure as the cell--Of dervishes?
If in the highest state you'd dwell, be ever slaves
Of dervishes.
The talisman of magic Might hid in some ruin's lonely site,
Emerges from its ancient night at the wild glance
Of dervishes.
When the proud sun has run his race, and he puts off his crown apace,
He bows before the pomp and place which are the boast
Of dervishes.
The palace portal of the sky, watched by Rizvan's unsleeping eye,
All gazers can at once descry from the glad haunts
Of dervishes.
When mortal hearts are black and cold, that which transmutes them into
gold
Is the alchemic stone we hold from intercourse
Of dervishes.
When tyranny, from pole to pole, sways o'er the earth with dire control,
We see from first to last unroll the victor-flag
Of dervishes.
There is a wealth which lasts elate, unfearful of decline from fate;
Hear it with joy--this wealth so great, is in the hands
Of dervishes.
Khosraus, the kiblahs of our prayer have weight to solace our
despair,[30]
But they are potent by their care for the high rank
Of dervishes.
O, vaunter of thy riches' pride! lay all thy vanity aside,
And know that health and wealth abide but by the will
Of dervishes.
Korah lost all his treasured store, which, cursed of Heaven, sinks
daily more,
(Hast thou not heard this tale of yore?) from disregard
Of dervishes,[31]
The smiling face of joy unknown, yet sought by tenants of a throne,
Is only in the mirror shown of the clear face
Of dervishes.
Let but our Asaf's eye request, I am the slave of his behest,
For though his looks his rank attest, he has the mind
Of dervishes.
Hafiz, if of the tide thou think, which makes immortal those who drink,
Seek in the dust that fountain's brink, at the cell door
Of dervishes.
Hafiz, while here on earth, be wise:
He who to empire's rule would rise,
Knows that his upward pathway lies
Through his regard
Of dervishes.
XXXI
In blossom is the crimson rose, and the rapt bulbul trills his song;
A summons that to revel calls you, O Sufis, wine-adoring throng!
The fabric of my contrite fervor appeared upon a rock to bide;
Yet see how by a crystal goblet it hath been shattered in its pride.
Bring wine; for to a lofty spirit, should they at its tribunal be,
What were the sentry, what the Sultan, the toper, or the foe of glee?
Forth from this hostel of two portals as finally thou needs must go,
What of the porch and arch of Being be of high span or meanly low?
To bliss' goal we gain not access, if sorrow has been tasted not;
Yea, with Alastu's pact was coupled the sentence of our baleful lot.
At Being and Non-being fret not; but either with calm temper see:
Non-being is the term appointed for the most lovely things that be.
Asaf's display, the airy courser, the language which the birds employed,
The wind has swept; and their possessor no profit from his wealth
enjoyed.[32]
Oh! fly not from thy pathway upward, for the winged shaft that quits
the bow
A moment to the air has taken, to settle in the dust below.
What words of gratitude, O Hafiz
Shall thy reed's tongue express anon,
As its choice gems of composition
From hands to other hands pass on?
XXXV
Now on the rose's palm the cup with limpid wine is brimming,
And with a hundred thousand tongues the bird her praise is hymning.
Ask for a song-book, seek the wild, no time is this for knowledge;
The Comment of the Comments spurn, and learning of the college,[33]
Be it thy rule to shun mankind, and let the Phoenix monish,
For the reports of hermit fame, from Kaf to Kaf astonish.[34]
When yesterday our rector reeled, this sentence he propounded:
"Wine is a scandal; but far worse what men's bequests have founded."
Turbid or clear, though not thy choice, drink thankfully; well knowing
That all which from our Saki flows to his free grace is owing.
Each dullard who would share my fame, each rival self-deceiver,
Reminds me that at times the mat seems golden to its weaver.
Cease, Hafiz! store as ruddy gold
The wit that's in thy ditty:
The stampers of false coin, behold!
Are bankers for the city.[35]
XLII
'Tis a deep charm which wakes the lover's flame,
Not ruby lip, nor verdant down its name.
Beauty is not the eye, lock, cheek, and mole;
A thousand subtle points the heart control.
XLIII
Zealot, censure not the toper, guileless though thou keep thy soul:
Certain 'tis that sins of others none shall write upon thy scroll.
Be my deeds or good or evil, look thou to thyself alone;
All men, when their work is ended, reap the harvest they have sown.
Never of Eternal Mercy preach that I must yet despair;
Canst thou pierce the veil, and tell me who is ugly, who is fair?
Every one the Friend solicits, be he sober, quaff he wine;
Every place has love its tenant, be it or the mosque, or shrine.
From the still retreat of virtue not the first am I to roam,
For my father also quitted his eternal Eden home.
See this head, devout submission: bricks at many a vintner's door:
If my foe these words misconstrue--"Bricks and head!"--Say nothing more.
Fair though Paradise's garden, deign to my advice to yield:
Here enjoy the shading willow, and the border of the field.
Lean not on thy store of merits; know'st thou 'gainst thy name for aye
What the Plastic Pen indited, on the Unbeginning Day?
Hafiz, if thou grasp thy beaker
When the hour of death is nigh,
From the street where stands the tavern
Straight they'll bear thee to the sky.
XLV
O breeze of morn! where is the place which guards my friend from strife?
Where is the abode of that sly Moon who lovers robs of life?
The night is dark, the Happy Vale in front of me I trace.[36]
Where is the fire of Sinaei, where is the meeting place?
Here jointly are the wine-filled cup, the rose, the minstrel; yet
While we lack love, no bliss is here: where can my Loved be met?
Of the Shaikh's cell my heart has tired, and of the convent bare:
Where is my friend, the Christian's child, the vintner's mansion, where?
Hafiz, if o'er the glade of earth
The autumn-blast is borne,
Grieve not, but musing ask thyself:
"Where has the rose no thorn?"
LIX
My Prince, so gracefully thou steppest, that where thy footsteps
fall--I'd die.
My Turk, so gracefully thou glidest, before thy stature tall
I'd die.
"When wilt thou die before me?"--saidst thou. Why thus so eagerly
inquire?
These words of thy desire delight me; forestalling thy desire
I'd die.
I am a lover, drunk, forsaken: Saki, that idol, where is he?
Come hither with thy stately bearing! let me thy fair form see,
I'd die.
Should he, apart from whom I've suffered a life-long illness, day by
day,
Bestow on me a glance, one only, beneath that orb dark-gray
I'd die.
"The ruby of my lips," thou saidst, "now bale, now balsam may exhale":
At one time from their healing balsam, at one time from their bale
I'd die.
How trim thy gait! May eye of evil upon thy face be never bent!
There dwells within my head this fancy; that at thy feet content
I'd die.
Though no place has been found for Hafiz
In Love's retreat, where hid thou art,
For me thine every part has beauty,
Before thine every part--
I'd die.
LXIII
My heart has of the world grown weary and all that it can lend:
The shrine of my affection holds no Being but my friend.
If e'er for me thy love's sweet garden a fragrant breath exhale,
My heart, expansive in its joy, shall bud-like burst its veil.
Should I upon love's path advise thee, when now a fool I've grown,
'Twould be the story of the fool, the pitcher, and the stone.
Go! say to the secluded zealot: "Withhold thy blame; for know,
I find the arch of the Mihrab[37] but in an eyebrow's bow."
Between the Ka'bah and the wine-house, no difference I see:
Whate'er the spot my glance surveys, there equally is He.
'Tis not for beard, hair, eyebrow only, Kalandarism should care:
The Kalandar computes the Path by adding hair to hair.[38]
The Kalandar who gives a hair's head,
An easy path doth tread:
The Kalandar of genuine stamp,
As Hafiz gives his head.
LXIX
My heart desires the face so fair--Of Farrukh;[39]
It is perturbed as is the hair
Of Farrukh.
No creature but that lock, that Hindu swart,
Enjoyment from the cheek has sought
Of Farrukh.
A blackamoor by Fortune blest is he,
Placed at the side, and near the knee
Of Farrukh.
Shy as the aspen is the cypress seen,
Awed by the captivating mien
Of Farrukh.
Saki, bring syrtis-tinted wine to tell
Of those narcissi, potent spell
Of Farrukh.
Bent as the archer's bow my frame is now,
From woes continuous as the brow
Of Farrukh.
E'en Tartar gales which musky odors whirl,
Faint at the amber-breathing curl
Of Farrukh.
If leans the human heart to any place,
Mine has a yearning to the grace
Of Farrukh.
That lofty soul
Shall have my service true,
That serves, as Hafiz,
The Hindu--[40]
Of Farrukh.
LXXI
When now the rose upon the meadow from Nothing into Being springs,
When at her feet the humble violet with her head low in worship clings,
Take from thy morn-filled cup refreshment while tabors and the harp
inspire,
Nor fail to kiss the chin of Saki while the flute warbles and the lyre.
Sit thou with wine, with harp, with charmer, until the rose's bloom be
past;
For as the days of life which passes, is the brief week that she shall
last.
The face of earth, from herbal mansions, is lustrous as the sky; and
shines
With asterisms of happy promise, with stars that are propitious signs.
In gardens let Zoroaster's worship again with all its rites revive,
While now within the tulip's blossoms the fires of Nimrod[41] are alive.
Drink wine, presented by some beauty of Christ-like breath, of cheek
fair-hued;
And banish from thy mind traditions to Ad relating, and Thamud.[42]
Earth rivals the Immortal Garden during the rose and lily's reign;
But what avails when the immortal is sought for on this earth in vain?
When riding on the windy courser, as Solomon, the rose is found,
And when the Bird, at hour of morning, makes David's melodies resound,
Ask thou, in Solomon's dominion, a goblet to the brim renewed;
Pledge the Vizir, the cycle's Asaf, the column of the Faith, Mahmud.
O Hafiz, while his days continue, let joy eternal be thine aim;
And may the shadow of his kindness eternally abide the same!
Bring wine; for Hafiz, if in trouble,
Will ceaselessly the help implore
Of him who bounty shall aid ever,
As it have aid vouchsafed before.
LXXVII
Upon the path of Love, O heart, deceit and risk are great!
And fall upon the way shall he who at swift rate
Shall go.
Inflated by the wind of pride, the bubble's head may shine;
But soon its cap of rule shall fall, and merged in wine
Shall go.
O heart, when thou hast aged grown, show airs of grace no more:
Remember that such ways as these when youth is o'er
Shall go.
Has the black book of black locks closed, the album yet shall stay,
Though many a score the extracts be which day by day
Shall go.
LXXXV
To me love's echo is the sweetest sound
Of all that 'neath this circling Round
Hath stayed.
LXXXVI
A beggar am I; yet enamoured of one of cypress mould:
One in whose belt the hand bides only with silver and with gold.
Bring wine! let first the hand of Hafiz
The cheery cup embrace!
Yet only on one condition--
No word beyond this place!
LXXXVII
When beamed Thy beauty on creation's morn,
The world was set on fire by love new-born.
Thy cheek shone bright, yet angels' hearts were cold:
Then flashed it fire, and turned to Adam's mould.
The lamp of Reason from this flame had burned,
But lightning jealousy the world o'erturned.
The enemy Thy secret sought to gain;
A hand unseen repelled the beast profane.
The die of Fate may render others glad:
My own heart saddens, for its lot is sad.
Thy chin's deep pit allures the lofty mind:
The hand would grasp thy locks in twines entwined,
Hafiz his love-scroll
To Thyself addressed,
When he had cancelled
What his heart loved best.
LXXXVIII
The preacher of the town will find my language hard, maybe:
While bent upon deceit and fraud, no Mussulman is he.
Learn drinking and do gracious deeds; the merit is not great
If a mere brute shall taste not wine, and reach not man's estate.
Efficient is the Name Divine; be of good cheer, O heart!
The div becomes not Solomon by guile and cunning's art.
The benisons of Heaven are won by purity alone:
Else would not pearl and coral spring from every clod and stone?
CI
Angels I saw at night knock at the wine-house gate:
They shaped the clay of Adam, flung into moulds its weight.
Spirits of the Unseen World of Purities divine,
With me an earth-bound mortal, poured forth their 'wildering wine.
Heaven, from its heavy trust aspiring to be free,
The duty was allotted, mad as I am, to me.
Thank God my friend and I once more sweet peace have gained!
For this the houris dancing thanksgiving cups have drained.
With Fancy's hundred wisps what wonder that I've strayed,
When Adam in his prudence was by a grain bewrayed?[43]
Excuse the wrangling sects, which number seventy-two:
They knock at Fable's portal, for Truth eludes their view.
No fire is that whose flame the taper laughs to scorn:
True fire consumes to ashes the moth's upgarnered corn.
Blood fills recluses' hearts where Love its dot doth place,
Fine as the mole that glistens upon a charmer's face.
As Hafiz, none Thought's face
Hath yet unveiled; not e'en
Since for the brides of Language
Combed have their tresses been.
CXV
Lost Joseph shall return to Kanaan's land--Despair not:
Affliction's cell of gloom with flowers shall bloom:
Despair not
Sad heart, thy state shall mend; repel despondency;
Thy head confused with pain shall sense regain:
Despair not.
When life's fresh spring returns upon the dais mead,
O night-bird! o'er thy head the rose shall spread:
Despair not,
Hope on, though things unseen may baffle thy research;
Mysterious sports we hail beyond the veil:
Despair not.
Has the revolving Sphere two days opposed thy wish,
Know that the circling Round is changeful found:
Despair not.
If on the Ka'bah bent, thou brave the desert sand,
Though from the acacias thorn thy foot be torn,
Despair not,
Heart, should the flood of death life's fabric sweep away,
Noah shall steer the ark o'er billows dark:
Despair not,
Though perilous the stage, though out of sight the goal,
Whither soe'er we wend, there is an end:
Despair not,
If Love evades our grasp, and rivals press our suit,
God, Lord of every change, surveys the range:
Despair not.
Hafiz, in thy poor nook--
Alone, the dark night through--
Prayer and the Koran's page
Shall grief assuage--
Despair not.
CXXIX
Endurance, intellect, and peace have from my bosom flown,
Lured by an idol's silver ear-lobes, and its heart of stone.
An image brisk, of piercing looks, with peris' beauty blest,
Of slender shape, of lunar face, in Turk-like tunic drest!
With a fierce glow within me lit--in amorous frenzy lost--
A culinary pot am I, in ebullition tost.
My nature as a shirt's would be, at all times free from smart,
If like yon tunic garb I pressed the wearer to my heart.
At harshness I have ceased to grieve, for none to light can bring
A rose that is apart from thorns, or honey void of sting.
The framework of this mortal form may rot within the mould,
But in my soul a love exists which never shall grow cold.
My heart and faith, my heart and faith--of old they were unharmed,
Till by yon shoulders and yon breast, yon breast and shoulders charmed.
Hafiz, a medicine for thy woe,
A medicine must thou sip,
No other than that lip so sweet,
That lip so sweet, that lip.
CXXXIV
Although upon his moon-like cheek delight and beauty glow,
Nor constancy nor love is there: O Lord! these gifts bestow.
A child makes war against my heart; and he in sport one day
Will put me to a cruel death, and law shall not gainsay.
What seems for my own good is this: my heart from him to guard;
For one who knows not good from ill its guardianship were hard.
Agile and sweet of fourteen years that idol whom I praise:
His ear-rings in her soul retains the moon of fourteen days.
A breath as the sweet smell of milk comes from those sugary lips;
But from those black and roguish eyes behold what blood there drips!
My heart to find that new-born rose has gone upon its way;
But where can it be found, O Lord? I've lost it many a day.
If the young friend who owns my heart my centre thus can break,
The Pasha will command him soon the lifeguard's rank to take.
I'd sacrifice my life in thanks,
If once that pearl of sheen
Would make the shell of Hafiz' eye
Its place of rest serene.
CXXXV
I tried my fortune in this city lorn:
From out its whirlpool must my pack be borne.
I gnaw my hand, and, heaving sighs of ire,
I light in my rent frame the rose's fire.
Sweet sang the bulbul at the close of day,
The rose attentive on her leafy spray:
"O heart! be joyful, for thy ruthless Love
Sits down ill-temper'd at the sphere above.
"To make the false, harsh world thyself pass o'er,
Ne'er promise falsely and be harsh no more.
"If beat misfortune's waves upon heaven's roof,
Devout men's fate and gear bide ocean-proof.
"Hafiz, if lasting
Were enjoyment's day,
Jem's throne would never
Have been swept away."
CXLV
Breeze of the North, thy news allays my fears:
The hour of meeting with my Loved one nears.
Prospered by Heaven, O carrier pigeon, fly:
Hail to thee, hail to thee, come nigh, come nigh!
How fares our Salma? What Zu Salam's state?
Our neighbors there--are they unscathed by Fate?
The once gay banquet-hall is now devoid
Of circling goblets, and of friends who joyed.
Perished the mansion with its lot serene:
Interrogate the mounds where once 'twas seen.
The night of absence has now cast its shade:
What freaks by Fancy's night-gang will be played?
He who has loved relates an endless tale:
Here the most eloquent of tongues must fail.
My Turk's kind glances no one can obtain:
Alas, this pride, this coldness, this disdain!
In perfect beauty did thy wish draw nigh:
God guard thee from Kamal's malefic eye![44]
Hafiz, long will last
Patience, love, and pain?
Lovers wail is sweet:
Do thou still complain.
CXLVI
O thou who hast ravished my heart by thine exquisite grace and thy
shape,
Thou carest for no one, and yet not a soul from thyself can escape.
At times I draw sighs from my heart, and at times, O my life, thy
sharp dart:
Can aught I may say represent all the ills I endure from my heart?
How durst I to rivals commend thy sweet lips by the ruby's tent gemmed,
When words that are vivid in hue by a soul unrefined are contemned?
As strength to thy beauty accrues ev'ry day from the day sped before,
To features consummate as thine, will we liken the night-star no more.
My heart hast thou reft: take my soul! For thine envoy of grief what
pretence?
One perfect in grief as myself with collector as he may dispense.
O Hafiz, in Love's holy bane,
As thy foot has at last made its way,
Lay hold of his skirt with thy hand,
And with all sever ties from to-day.
CXLIX
Both worlds, the Transient and Eterne, for Saki and the Loved I'd yield:
To me appears Love's satellite the universe's ample field.
Should a new favorite win my place, my ruler shall be still supreme:
It were a sin should I my life more precious than my friend esteem.
CLV
Last night my tears, a torrent stream, stopped Sleep by force:
I painted, musing on thy down, upon the water-course.
Then, viewing my Beloved one's brow--my cowl burnt up--
In honor of the sacred Arch I drained my flowing cup.
From my dear friend's resplendent brow pure light was shed;
And on that moon there fell from far the kisses that I sped.
The face of Saki charmed my eye, the harp my ear:
At once for both mine ear and eye what omens glad were here!
I painted thine ideal face till morning's light,
Upon the studio of my eye, deprived of sleep at night.
My Saki took at this sweet strain the wine-bowl up:
I sang to him these verses first; then drank to sparkling cup.
If any of my bird-like thoughts from joy's branch flew,
Back from the springes of thy lock their fleeting wings I drew.
The time of Hafiz passed in joy:
To friends I brought
For fortune and the days of life
The omens that they sought.
CLVII
Come, Sufi, let us from our limbs the dress that's worn for cheat Draw:
Let us a blotting line right through this emblem of deceit
Draw.
The convent's revenues and alms we'd sacrifice for wine awhile,
And through the vintry's fragrant flood this dervish-robe of guile
Draw.
Intoxicated, forth we'll dash, and from our feasting foe's rich stores
Bear off his wine, and then by force his charmer out of doors
Draw.
Fate may conceal her mystery, shut up within her hiding pale,
But we who act as drunken men will from its face the veil
Draw.
Here let us shine by noble deeds, lest we at last ashamed appear,
When starting for the other world, we hence our spirit's gear
Draw.
To-morrow at Rizvan's green glade, should they refuse to make it ours,
We from their halls will the ghilman, the houris from their bowers
Draw.
Where can we see her winking brow, that we, as the new moon of old,
At once may the celestial ball, as with a bat of gold,
Draw?
O Hafiz! it becomes us not
Our boastful claims thus forth to put:
Beyond the limits of our rug
Why would we fain our foot
Draw?
CLIX
Aloud I say it, and with heart of glee:
"Love's slave am I, and from both worlds am free."
Can I, the bird of sacred gardens, tell
Into this net of chance how first I fell?
My place the Highest Heaven, an angel born,
I came by Adam to this cloister lorn.
Sweet houris, Tuba's shade, and Fountain's brink
Fade from my mind when of thy street I think.
Knows no astrologer my star of birth:
Lord, 'neath what plant bore me Mother Earth?
Since with ringed ear I've served Love's house of wine,
Grief's gratulations have each hour been mine.
My eyeball's man drains my heart's blood; 'tis just:
In man's own darling did I place my trust.
My Loved one's Alif-form[45] stamps all my thought:
Save that, what letter has my master taught?
Let Hafiz' tear-drops
By thy lock be dried,
For fear I perish
In their rushing tide.
CLXVI
Knowest thou what fortune is?
'Tis Beauty's sight obtaining;
'Tis asking in her lane for alms,
And royal pomp disdaining.
Sev'erance from the wish for life an easy task is ever;
But lose we friends who sweeten life, the tie is hard to sever.
Bud-like with a serried heart I'll to the orchard wander;
The garment of my good repute I'll tear to pieces yonder;
Now, as doth the West-wind, tell deep secrets to the Flower,
Hear now of Love's mysterious sport from bulbuls of the bower.
Kiss thy Beloved one's lips at first while the occasion lingers:
Await thou else disgust at last from biting lip and fingers.
Profit by companionship: this two-doored house forsaken,
No pathway that can thither lead in future time is taken.
Hafiz from the thought, it seems,
Of Shah Mansur has fleeted;
O Lord! remind him that the poor
With favor should be treated.
CLXXIII
With my heart's blood I wrote to one most dear:
"The earth seems doom-struck if thou are not near.
"My eyes a hundred signs of absence show:
These tears are not their only signs of woe."
I gained no boon from her for labor spent:
"Who tries the tried will in the end repent."
I asked how fared she; the physician spake:
"Afar from her is health; but near her ache."
The East-wind from my Moon removed her veil:
At morn shone forth the Sun from vapors pale.
I said: "They'll mock, if I go round thy lane."
By God! no love escapes the mocker's bane.
Grant Hafiz' prayer:
"One cup, by life so sweet!"
He seeks a goblet
With thy grace replete!
CLXXX
O thou who art unlearned still, the quest of love essay:
Canst thou who hast not trod the path guide others on the way?
While in the school of Truth thou stay'st, from Master Love to learn,
Endeavor, though a son to-day, the father's grade to earn.
Slumber and food have held thee far from Love's exalted good:
Wouldst thou attain the goal of love, abstain from sleep and food.
If with the rays of love of truth thy heart and soul be clear,
By God! thy beauty shall outshine the sun which lights the sphere.
Wash from the dross of life thy hands, as the Path's men of old,
And winning Love's alchemic power, transmute thyself to gold.
On all thy frame, from head to foot, the light of God shall shine,
If on the Lord of Glory's path nor head nor foot be thine.
An instant plunge into God's sea, nor e'er the truth forget
That the Seven Seas' o'erwhelming tide, no hair of thine shall wet.
If once thy glancing eye repose on the Creator's face.
Thenceforth among the men who glance shall doubtless be thy place.[46]
When that which thy existence frames all upside-down shall be,
Imagine not that up and down shall be the lot of thee.
Hafiz, if ever in thy head
Dwell Union's wish serene,
Thou must become the threshold's dust
Of men whose sight is keen.
[FOOTNOTES to THE DIVAN]
[Footnote 1: "The traveller of the Pathway"--the Magian, or Shaikh. In
former times wine was chiefly sold by Magians, and as the keepers of
taverns and caravansaries grew popular, the term Magian was used to
designate not only "mine host," but also a wise old man, or spiritual
teacher.]
[Footnote 2: An allusion to the dimple and moisture of the chin,
considered great beauties by Orientals.]
[Footnote 3: Jem or Jemshid, an ancient King of Persia. By Jem and his
Saki are to be understood, in this couplet, the King of Yazd and his
courtiers.]
[Footnote 4: By the azure cowl is implied the cloak of deceit and false
humility. Hafiz uses this expression to cast ridicule upon Shaikh
Hazan's order of dervishes, who were inimical to the brotherhood of
which the poet was a member. The dervishes mentioned wore blue to
express their celestial aspirations.]
[Footnote 5: The disciples of Shaikh Hasan. Hafiz had incurred their
displeasure by the levity of his conduct.]
[Footnote 6: In the "Gulistan" of Sa'di a philosopher declares that, of
all the trees, the cypress is alone to be called free, because, unlike
the others, it is not subject to the vicissitudes of appointed place and
season, "but is at all times fresh and green, and this is the condition
of the free."]
[Footnote 7: In some MSS. we read: "The mirror of Sikander is the goblet
of Jem." King Jem, or Jemshid, had a talismanic cup: Sikander, or
Alexander, had inherited from pre-Adamite times a magic mirror by means
of which he was enabled to see into the camp of his enemy Dara (Darius).
Hafiz here informs us that the knowledge imputed to either king was
obtained by wine.]
[Footnote 8: Referring to wine, which in the Koran is declared to be the
Mother of Vices.]
[Footnote 9: Korah, Kore, or Karun, the Dives of his age, was an
alchemist. He lived in an excess of luxury and show. At the height of
his pride and gluttony he rebelled against Moses, refusing to pay a
tithe of his possessions for the public use. The earth then opened and
swallowed him up together with the palace in which he dwelt. (See Koran,
chap, xxviii, and, for the Bible narrative, The Book of Numbers, chap,
xvi.)]
[Footnote 10: It was decreed from all eternity that Hafiz should drink
wine. He had therefore no free agency and could not be justly blamed.]
[Footnote 11: The boy serving at the wine-house.]
[Footnote 12: The curl of hair over a moon-like face is here compared to
a curved mall-bat sweeping over a ball.]
[Footnote 13: By "earth" is to be understood Noah himself.]
[Footnote 14: Fate, Fortune, and the Sky, are in Oriental poetry
intervertible expressions; and the dome of Heaven is compared to a cup
which is full of poison for the unfortunate.]
[Footnote 15: The rebeck is a sort of violin having only three chords.]
[Footnote 16: His locks being black as night and his cheek cheerful as
the Sun of Dai or December.]
[Footnote 17: Kai-kaus, one of the most celebrated monarchs of Persia.]
[Footnote 18: The pictured halls of China, or, in particular, the palace
of Arzhang, the dwelling of Manes. Manes lived in the third century of
our era, and his palace was famed as the Chinese picture-gallery. Hafiz
compares the bloom upon the cheek of his friend to the works of art
executed by Manes, in which dark shadows, like velvety down upon the
human face, excite no surprise.]
[Footnote 19: The Nasrin is the dog-rose.]
[Footnote 20: In Mohammedan countries it is customary to write upon the
doors: "O Opener of the gates! open unto us the gates of blessing."]
[Footnote 21: Rizvan is the gardener and gatekeeper of Paradise.]
[Footnote 22: The lote-tree, known to Arabs as the Tuba, is a prickly
shrub. The Koran says: "To those who believe, and perform good works,
appertain welfare and a fair retreat. The men of the right hand--how
happy shall be the men of the right hand!--shall dwell among the
lote-trees without thorns. Under their feet rivers shall flow in the
garden of Delight."]
[Footnote 23: According to Oriental belief, the ruby and all other gems,
derive their brilliancy from the action of the sun. By a similar process
of Nature, ruby lips obtain their vivid color from the sun above them.]
[Footnote 24: The zodiacal light or faint illumination of the sky which
disappears before the light of daybreak.]
[Footnote 25: Asaf, Solomon's "Vizir," was entrusted with the
guardianship of the imperial signet ring, which was possessed of magical
properties. While in his care it was stolen. When Solomon granted an
audience to animals, and even insects, the ant, it is related, brought
as an offering a blade of grass and rebuked Asaf for having guarded the
royal treasure so carelessly. By Asaf, Hafiz symbolizes in the present
instance his friend or favorite; by the ant is implied a small hair on
the face, and by the lost signet of Jem, a beautiful mouth, so small and
delicate as to be invisible.]
[Footnote 26: Majnun, a celebrated lover, maddened by the charms of
Laila.]
[Footnote 27: This ode may have been written in gratitude for the
patronage of a man of rank.]
[Footnote 28: Literally in this toper-consuming shrine (of the world).
The second line of the couplet probably means: Other revellers have
preceded me, but their heads are now potter's clay in the potter's field
of the earth.]
[Footnote 29: The wild tulip of Shiraz has white petals streaked with
pink, the inner end of each bearing a deep puce mark. The dark spot
formed thus in the centre of the flower is compared to the brand of
love, pre-ordained on the Past Day of Eternity to be imprinted on the
heart of Hafiz.]
[Footnote 30: Khosrau (Cyrus) is the title of several ancient kings of
Persia, and is here used in the plural to denote monarchs in general.
The term "kiblah," fronting-point, signifies the object towards which
the worshipper turns when he prays.]
[Footnote 31: Korah or Karun--the miser who disobeyed Moses and was
swallowed up with his treasures by the earth. They are said to be still
sinking deeper and deeper. (See Numbers, xvi.)]
[Footnote 32: How vain were the glories of Solomon! Asaf was his
minister, the East wind his courser, and the language of birds one of
his accomplishments; but the blast of time had swept them away.]
[Footnote 33: The "Comment of the Comments" is a celebrated explanatory
treatise on the Koran.]
[Footnote 34: Kaf is a fabulous mountain encircling the world. In this
couplet and the following the poet ridicules the ascetics of his time.]
[Footnote 35: The false coiners are inferior poets who endeavor to pass
off their own productions as the work of Hafiz.]
[Footnote 36: Aiman (Happiness) is the valley in which God appeared to
Moses--metaphorically, the abode of the Beloved.]
[Footnote 37: "Mihrab"--the niche in a mosque, towards which Mohammedans
pray.]
[Footnote 38: Kalandars are an order of Mohammedan dervishes who wander
about and beg. The worthless sectaries of Kalandarism, Hafiz says, shave
off beard and tonsure, but the true or spiritual Kalandar shapes his
path by a scrupulous estimate of duty.]
[Footnote 39: "Farrukh" (auspicious) is doubtless the name of some
favorite of the Poet.]
[Footnote 40: "Hindu" is here equivalent to "slave."]
[Footnote 41: Zerdusht (in Latin, Zoroaster)--the celebrated prophet of
the Gulbres, or fire-worshippers. Nimrod is said to have practised a
religion, similar to theirs.]
[Footnote 42: Ad and Thamud were Arab tribes exterminated by God in
consequence of their having disobeyed the prophet Salih.]
[Footnote 43: By a "grain" is meant a grain of wheat; according to
Mohammedans, the forbidden fruit of Paradise.]
[Footnote 44: Kamal was an Arab whose glance inflicted death.]
[Footnote 45: "Alif-form," meaning a straight and erect form: the
letter Alif being, as it were, of upright stature.]
[Footnote 46: "The men who glance" are lovers. The spiritual or true
lover is he who loves God.]
END OF VOLUME ONE
Back to Full Books
|