Ghazal 152: Epiphany
By Hafiz
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Click here to hear me recite the Persian
The eve of time, a ray of your
beauty breathed epiphany forth,
Then Love revealed itself, and cast
down flame that razed all things of earth.
Your face revealed itself, saw Angels
did not have love,1 then lost control
With smitten honor and became
a raging fire that struck Man's soul.
From that love's flame did Reason wish
to light its lamp. A lightening bolt
Of jealous wrath flashed forth and left
the world in havoc and revolt.
The poseur2 tried to see the scene
of mystery unveiled. The long
Hand of the Unseen lashed and smashed
him back to where that sort belong.
Others in fortune's lottery
won luxuries that satiate,
My grief-spent heart alone got more
grief for its love by lots of fate.
The higher soul that thirsted for
the well in your dimple's recess
Reached down to lay a hand amid
those tangled locks with a caress.
The day that Hafiz wrote his book
"The Joy of Love" for you, his pen
Crossed out each way by which a heart
could ever know delight again.
Notes:
1Angels lacked the capacity for love which was given to Adam. C.f. also Qur'an [33:72] where God offers his trust to the mountains and the earth, but they refuse it, and Man is foolish enough to accept it and all the burdens it entails.
2"Poseur" : i.e. Satan. C.f. Najm Rāzī's Mirsād al-Ibād where the Angels are surprised that God gave Adam, a lowly clay-creature, greater respect than he had given them. In response to this, Satan enters Adam's body in search of the secret of love (in the heart) which God had tucked into Adam in a manner hidden from angels. Satan could find no way into Adam's heart and left disappointed.
The Original:
در ازل پرتو حسنت ز تجلی دم زد عشق پيدا شد و آتش به همه عالم زد
جلوهای کرد رخت ديد ملک عشق نداشت عين آتش شد از اين غيرت و بر آدم زد
عقل میخواست کز آن شعله چراغ افروزد برق غيرت بدرخشيد و جهان برهم زد
مدعی خواست که آيد به تماشاگه راز دست غيب آمد و بر سينه نامحرم زد
ديگران قرعه قسمت همه بر عيش زدند دل غمديده ما بود که هم بر غم زد
جان علوی هوس چاه زنخدان تو داشت دست در حلقه آن زلف خم اندر خم زد
حافظ آن روز طربنامه عشق تو نوشت
که قلم بر سر اسباب دل خرم زد
جلوهای کرد رخت ديد ملک عشق نداشت عين آتش شد از اين غيرت و بر آدم زد
عقل میخواست کز آن شعله چراغ افروزد برق غيرت بدرخشيد و جهان برهم زد
مدعی خواست که آيد به تماشاگه راز دست غيب آمد و بر سينه نامحرم زد
ديگران قرعه قسمت همه بر عيش زدند دل غمديده ما بود که هم بر غم زد
جان علوی هوس چاه زنخدان تو داشت دست در حلقه آن زلف خم اندر خم زد
حافظ آن روز طربنامه عشق تو نوشت
که قلم بر سر اسباب دل خرم زد
Posts
Perhaps the Mona Lisa of Persian classical literature.Oh Boy you have guts and talent for taking it on.
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