Culture - Poetry

Persian Poetry HAFEZ poetry - page 1 page 1, page 2, page 3	Hafez, the poet Hafez Tomb Hafez Books Hafez Poetry CD
Taking a Riddle into the Tavern For many years my heart wanted something for me,. not knowing that it was itself what it wanted: the desire for Jamshid's cup, wherein all existence can be seen, except for that chalice itself, that is. There was a man beloved of God who cried out to God, "Why have you forsaken me?" I took the riddle of this into a tavern and asked the one who served. He said, "Some secrets must be kept, not told to the world at large. The rosebud and the soul write mysteries on their margins fold within fold. Stay closed and wait." "Your wine glass is the all-revealing cup!" "Given before the creation." "And what of that woman there that I cannot forget?" "Hafez," said the tavernmaster, "this love within you that speaks needs some restraint!" Translation by Coleman Barks (The Hand of Poetry)
My friend has fled? alas, my friend has fled, And left me nought but tears and pain behind? Like smoke above a flame caught by the wind, So rose she from my breast and forth she sped. Drunk with desire, I seized Love's cup divine, But she that held it poured the bitter wine Of Separation into it and fled. The hunter she, and I the helpless prey; Wounded and sick, round me her toils she drew, My heart into a sea of sorrow threw, Bound up her camel loads and fled away. Fain had I laid an ambush for her soul, She saw and vanished, and the timid foal, Good Fortune, slipped the rein and would not stay. My heart was all too narrow for my woe, And tears of blood my weeping eyes have shed, A crimson stream across the desert sped, Rising from out of my sad heart's overflow. She knew not what Love's meanest slave can tell: "'Tis sweet to serve!" but threw me a Farewell, Kissing my threshold, turned, and cried "I go!" In the clear dawn, before the east was red, Before the rose had torn her veil in two, A nightingale through Hafiz' garden flew, Stayed but to fill its song with tears, and fled. Translation by Gertrude Bell (The Hafez Poems of Gertrude Bell)
HAFEZ poetry - page 1 page 1, page 2, page 3 Hafez, the poet Hafez Tomb Hafez Books  Hafez Poetry on CD