Spring and all its flowers
now joyously break their vow of silence.
It is time for celebration, not for lying low;
You too — weed out those roots of sadness from your heart.
The Sabaa wind arrives;
and in deep resonance, the flower
passionately rips open its garments,
thrusting itself from itself.
The Way of Truth, learn from the clarity of water,
Learn freedom from the spreading grass.
Pay close attention to the artistry of the Sabaa wind,
that wafts in pollen from afar,
And ripples the beautiful tresses
of the fields of hyacinth flowers.
From the privacy of the harem, the virgin bud slips out,
revealing herself under the morning star,
branding your heart and your faith
with beauty.
And frenzied bulbul flies madly out of the House of Sadness
to unite with the flowers;
its love-crazed cry like a thousand-trumpet blast.
Hafez says, and the experienced old ones concur:
All you really need
is to tell those Stories
of the Fair Ones and the Goblet of Wine.
****
The Garden
The garden is breathing out the air of Paradise today,
Toward me, a friend with a sweet nature, and this wine.
It’s all right for the beggar to brag that he is a King today.
His royal tent is a shadow thrown by a cloud; his throne room is a sown field.
This meadow is composing a tale of a spring day in May;
The serious man lets the future go and accepts the cash now.
Do you really believe your enemy will be faithful to you?
The candle the hermit lights goes out in the worldly church.
Make your soul strong then by feeding it the secret wine.
When we have turned to dust, this rotten world will press our dust into bricks.
My life is a black book. But don’t rebuke me too much.
No person can ever read the words written on his own forehead.
When Hafez’s coffin comes by, it’ll be all right to follow behind.
Although he is a captive of sin, he is on his way to the Garden.
***
I Will Hire You as a Minstrel
Take one of my tears,
Throw it into the ocean
And watch the salt in the wounds
Of this earth and men begin to disappear.
Take one of my tears
And cradle it in your palm.
Mount a great white camel
And carry my love into every desert,
Paying homage to every Prophet
Who has ever walked in our world.
O take one of my tears
And stop weeping only for sadness,
For there is so much More to this life
Than you now understand.
Take one of my tears
And become like the Happy One,
O like the Happy One –
Who now lives Forever
Within me.
When a drop from my Emerald Sea
Touches your soul’s mouth,
It will dissolve everything but your Joy
And an Eternal Wonder.
Then,
The Beloved will gladly hire you
As His minstrel
To go traveling about this world,
Letting everyone upon this earth
Hear
The Beautiful Names of God
Resound in a thousand chords!
Hafiz himself is singing tonight
In Resplendent Glory,
For the cup in my heart
Has revealed the Beloved’s Face,
And I have His oath in writing
That He will never again depart.
0 Hafiz, take one of your tears,
For you are weeping like a golden candle-
Throw one tear into the Ocean of your own verse
And let the wounds
Of every lover of God who kneels in prayer
And comes close to your words
Begin, right now,
To disappear.
***
The Secret
I need a drink, wine maiden, that cup with grape stain lined,
for love that once seemed pleasing has burdened down my mind.
Ah smell how West Wind wafts her musk through the tavern door;
now feel our pumping hearts beat fast, watch our fears unwind.
Why do we who visit love think we’d stay forever?
We know the yearn to wander will always lovers find.
So we asked the Elder: What law makes love bring pain?
Sobriety, he laughed, you’ll feel better when you’re wined.
Your plight cannot be aided by that dull fear to risk
the toss and turn of love’s dark storm upon the ocean blind.
See clear in all these gathered friends who still hold you dear
love’s secret is that you must love without desires that bind.
Hafez, enjoy the one you love, drink deep and embrace;
seek not with her to please your world, just give love and be kind.
***
What Happens?
What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?
First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears
And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.
But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.
What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world
To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?
O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions ~
Like Hafiz.
***
A Brimming Cup of Wine
A Flower-Tinted cheek, the flowery close
Of the fair earth, these are enough for me
Enough that in the meadow wanes and grows
The shadow of a graceful cypress-tree.
I am no lover of hypocrisy;
Of all the treasures that the earth can boast,
A brimming cup of wine I prize the most–
This is enough for me!
To them that here renowned for virtue live,
A heavenly palace is the meet reward;
To me, the drunkard and the beggar, give
The temple of the grape with red wine stored!
Beside a river seat thee on the sward;
It floweth past-so flows thy life away,
So sweetly, swiftly, fleets our little day–
Swift, but enough for me!
Look upon all the gold in the world’s mart,
On all the tears the world hath shed in vain
Shall they not satisfy thy craving heart?
I have enough of loss, enough of gain;
I have my Love, what more can I obtain?
Mine is the joy of her companionship
Whose healing lip is laid upon my lip–
This is enough for me!
I pray thee send not forth my naked soul
From its poor house to seek for Paradise
Though heaven and earth before me God unroll,
Back to thy village still my spirit flies.
And, Hafiz, at the door of Kismet lies
No just complaint-a mind like water clear,
A song that swells and dies upon the ear,
These are enough for thee!
Source : earthrites.org