Why I Love Hafez Shirazi

The 14th-Century Persian poet Hafez’s work is not just very beautiful – it is useful too. Hafiz can teach us how to get the most out of our lives, writes Daniel Ladinsky.

Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafez (c. 1320-1389) is one of the most beloved poets of the Persians, and is considered by many – from different cultures – to be one of the seven literary wonders of the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe both agreed. As Emerson said of Hafiz: "He fears nothing. He sees too far, he sees throughout; such is the only man I wish to see or be." And Emerson gave Hafiz that grand and famous compliment, "Hafiz is a poet for poets."

Both Goethe and Emerson translated Hafiz. And after Geothe's deep study of him, simply – though remarkably – stated, "Hafiz has no peer."

Hafiz poems were also admired by such diverse notables as Nietzsche and Arthur Conan Doyle, whose wonderful character Sherlock Holmes quotes Hafiz.

Garcia Lorca praised the Sufi poet. Johannes Brahms was so touched by his verse he used several in his compositions. And even Queen Victoria was said to have consulted Hafiz in times of need – which has been a custom in the Middle East for centuries. The Fal-e Hafiz, is an ancient tradition in which a reader asks Hafiz for advice when facing a difficulty or at an important juncture in their life – treating his books as an oracle and opening them with a deep wish from their soul for guidance. 

The range of Hafiz is indeed stunning and provocative at times:

I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath

moves through – listen to this music.

Then this, from another poem,

Look at the smile on the Earth's lips this

morning, she laid again with me last night!

I feel Hafiz is a rare master of ‘the utility of light’ – or ‘the sun’. And ‘the utility of art’. His poetry bestows its benevolence and ability to comfort, enliven and enrich those in need. Art should be a lover; it should radiate and allow you to warm yourself if in any way cold. Art can quench inner thirst and hunger. And in studying the lives – and working with the poetry – of Rumi, Michelangelo, St Francis, Kabir, Mira and Hafiz, and several of the other great poet-seers, East and West, I came to learn that there was a wonderful common denominator in their work. They helped me form a three-word definition of art, which I then felt was a true gauge for success of any of poems or writings I ever become involved with, including my own. As Emerson saw Hafiz as a genuine measure of himself in all of his interactions, I too try to keep Hafiz before me when dealing with another person – or animal, creature or even plant. As water is poured through a cloth to collect impurities, I try and pour myself through the poems of Hafiz, and my images of him. 

In the moment

Those three words that Hafiz exemplifies, that came to me in studying the lives and works of those greats I just mentioned are an important definition and goal of art, and a standard I hold myself to: engage and give.   

An illustration from a 19th-Century collection of Hafiz’s poems shows the poet offering his work to a patron (Credit: Wikipedia)

Perhaps one of the greatest attributes and values of art is to capture and exploit another person's attention. For when beauty does that the witness, or audience, always benefits. As Hafiz says:

The mountain's face lifted me higher than

itself.

A song's wink aligned me with joy. And a

tune paradise hums I came to know.

The forest, letting me walk amongst its naked

limbs, had me on my knees again in silence

shouting – yes, yes my holy friend, let your

splendour devour me.

To be engaged by a true teacher like Hafiz is to have lasting ingredients put into your mind, that when cooked through contemplation help us lead a better life. Inherent in engaging someone's interest is to make them present. And with so many suffering the tyranny of some past event or anxieties about the future, what a gift being in the moment can be, especially then if a jewel can be slipped into your pocket by some magi'sbrush stroke, writings, sculpture, instrument, or ballet step. Hafiz helps us inherit a treasure that is already ours, decreed at birth; and he speaks directly about that in some of his poems – how to file your claim!

‘Wine-tasting of the sky’

I have published around 700 Hafiz rendering-poems in six books. And the impetus behind every single line of Hafiz I ever wrote is to help light a candle in your heart, to assist our perennial need to have fun, laugh and dance, "to lift the corners of your mouth." The weight that can be on us in an hour or a day, Hafiz is there to lighten. His love for us is time tested and keeps encouraging and can inspire. He helps us to forgive those we have yet to forgive. And honour those we have yet to honour. And his herculean strength, his enlightenment, will rub off on you so that you too wish (and discover yourself more able) never to harm another via sound or movement. Hafiz became incapable of an unkind act, it is said.

Hafiz longs to help the highest aspects in us lead all the other parts

In hundreds of ways Hafiz addresses what impedes us from living a more fulfilled life. With unique, charming metaphors that he seems able to rain from the ground up, he longs to help the highest aspects in us lead all the other parts to a place where we can breathe easier and kick back more and say: "Ahhhh, this world isn’t so bad, as a matter of fact – it is amazing!" 

Hafiz says:        

If your knees have not buckled in ecstasy while standing

when a veil parts.     

If a cherished tear of gratitude has not sung leaping from

your eye.

If anything your palm does touch cannot help reveal the

Beloved.

My words are full of golden secrets that are not too hard

to crack, and will remedy one hundred fears and ills.

So, so many of Hafiz’s poems are precisely about unfettering the senses and refining the will, so that we do more “wine-tasting of the sky”, and more tenderly holding – in thought or with arms – the things we most love and know as precious nourishment. He unsnares our “emerald wings”.

Tales of the master

Two stories of Hafiz come to mind that my own teacher told me, and here again, these show the great range of Hafiz, and to me his rather incredible ability to never bore. To constantly engage and give. And so creatively lead.

The first story goes:

Once a young woman came to Hafiz and said,

"What is the sign of someone knowing God?"

And Hafiz became very quiet, and stood in silence

for nearly a minute... lovingly looking deep into the

young woman's eye, then softly spoke,

"My dear, they have dropped the knife. The person

who knows God has dropped the cruel knife most

so often use upon their tender self – and others."

The second story echoes a sensuousness, that is so much a part of the human dynamic, and that Hafiz fully embraces, and often uses as a springboard to heaven – as the body and its desires can be. It goes:

A rather serious – maybe too serious – university

student from another country came to Hafiz to

personally ask for his permission to translate some

of Hafiz's poems into a little book.

And he said to Hafiz, "What is the essential

quality in your poems that I need to incorporate in

my translations to make them abiding and authentic?"

And Hafiz smiled, and placed his arms on the man's

shoulders, then said, "Do you really want to know?"

And the young man said, "Of course."

"Well, well then," Hafiz began and continued,

"My poems lift the corners of the mouth – the soul's

mouth, the heart's mouth. And can effect any opening

that can make love."

Like the wondrous life the sun and earth give in their miraculous utility, so can the artist sometimes share in that,and any human being who is full of buoyant passion – or willing to die for some great cause, or sublime ideals.

So can the mind that knows all forms are part of an ultimate Self, and treats everything with respect. And a sacred hand reaches out from Hafiz's profound compassion and wisdom. A gentle embrace is there from his perhaps omnipresent spirit. The mosaic of illumined consciousness in his poems lead us to a greater self-awareness, empowerment and freedom. His wild onslaught of playful genius is a gold mine. And a beautiful romance can begin with all who hold dearly his books.    

***

The best Hafez Poems

Poems on this page are translated by both Thomas Rain Crowe, from his book, Drunk On the Wine of the Beloved and selections from Daniel Ladinsky’s translations.

Hafez, a Sufi poet, expressed in poetry love for the divine, and the intoxicating oneness of union with it. Hafiz, along with many Sufi masters, uses wine as the symbol for love. The intoxication that results from both is why it is such a fitting comparison. Hafiz spoke out about the hypocrisy and deceit that exists in society, and was more outspoken in pointing this out than many poets similar to him.

All the Hemispheres

Leave the familiar for a while.

Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season

Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.

Make a new water-mark on your excitement

And love.

Like a blooming night flower,

Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness

And giving

Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence

Lie beside an equator

In your heart.

Greet Yourself

In your thousand other forms

As you mount the hidden tide and travel

Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven

Are sitting around a fire

Chatting

While stitching themselves together

Into the Great Circle inside of

You.

From: ‘The Subject Tonight is Love’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

From the Large Jug, Drink

From the large jug, drink the wine of Unity,

So that from your heart you can wash away the futility of life’s grief.

But like this large jug, still keep the heart expansive.

Why would you want to keep the heart captive, like an unopened bottle

of wine?

With your mouth full of wine, you are selfless

And will never boast of your own abilities again.

Be like the humble stone at your feet rather than striving to be like a

Sublime cloud: the more you mix colors of deceit, the more colorless

your ragged wet coat will get.

Connect the heart to the wine, so that it has body,

Then cut off the neck of hypocrisy and piety of this new man.

Be like Hafiz: Get up and make an effort. Don’t lie around like a bum.

He who throws himself at the Beloved’s feet is like a workhorse and will

be rewarded with boundless pastures and eternal rest.

From: Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

I Have Learned So Much

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.

From: ‘The Gift’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Let Thought Become Your

Beautiful Lover

Let thought become the beautiful Woman.

Cultivate your mind and heart to that depth

That it can give you everything

A warm body can.

Why just keep making love with God’s child — Form

When the Friend Himself is standing

Before us

So open-armed?

My dear,

Let prayer become your beautiful Lover

And become free,

Become free of this whole world

Like Hafiz.

From: ‘The Gift’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

School of Truth

O fool, do something, so you won’t just stand there looking dumb.

If you are not traveling and on the road, how can you call yourself a guide?

In the School of Truth, one sits at the feet of the Master of Love.

So listen, son, so that one day you may be an old father, too!

All this eating and sleeping has made you ignorant and fat;

By denying yourself food and sleep, you may still have a chance.

Know this: If God should shine His lovelight on your heart,

I promise you’ll shine brighter than a dozen suns.

And I say: wash the tarnished copper of your life from your hands;

To be Love’s alchemist, you should be working with gold.

Don’t sit there thinking; go out and immerse yourself in God’s sea.

Having only one hair wet with water will not put knowledge in that head.

For those who see only God, their vision

Is pure, and not a doubt remains.

Even if our world is turned upside down and blown over by the wind,

If you are doubtless, you won’t lose a thing.

O Hafiz, if it is union with the Beloved that you seek,

Be the dust at the Wise One’s door, and speak!

From: ‘Drunk On the Wind of the Beloved’

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

Laughing At the Word Two

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.

From: ‘The Gift’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I Know The Way You Can Get

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!

From: ‘I Heard God Laughing — Renderings of Hafiz’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I’ve Said It Before and I’ll Say It Again

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

It’s not my fault that with a broken heart, I’ve gone this way.

In front of a mirror they have put me like a parrot,

And behind the mirror the Teacher tells me what to say.

Whether I am perceived as a thorn or a rose, it’s

The Gardener who has fed and nourished me day to day.

O friends, don’t blame me for this broken heart;

Inside me there is a great jewel and it’s to the Jeweler’s shop I go.

Even though, to pious, drinking wine is a sin,

Don’t judge me; I use it as a bleach to wash the color of hypocrisy away.

All that laughing and weeping of lovers must be coming from some other place;

Here, all night I sing with my winecup and then moan for You all day.

If someone were to ask Hafiz, “Why do you spend all your time sitting in

The Winehouse door?,” to this man I would say, “From there, standing,

I can see both the Path and the Way.

From: Drunk on the Wind of the Beloved

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

Tired of Speaking Sweetly

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.

From: ‘The Gift’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Like The Morning Breeze

Like the morning breeze, if you bring to the morning good deeds,

The rose of our desire will open and bloom.

Go forward, and make advances down this road of love;

In forward motion, the pain is great.

To beg at the door of the Winehouse is a wonderful alchemy.

If you practice this, soon you will be converting dust into gold.

O heart, if only once you experience the light of purity,

Like a laughing candle, you can abandon the life you live in your head.

But if you are still yearning for cheap wine and a beautiful face,

Don’t go out looking for an enlightened job.

Hafiz, if you are listening to this good advice,

The road of Love and its enrichment are right around the curve.

From: Drunk on the Wind of the Beloved

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

We Might Have To Medicate You

Resist your temptation to lie

By speaking of separation from God,

Otherwise,

We might have to medicate

You.

In the ocean

A lot goes on beneath your eyes.

Listen,

They have clinics there too

For the insane

Who persist in saying things like:

“I am independent from the

Sea,

God is not always around

Gently

Pressing against

My body.”

From: ‘The Gift’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

A Potted Plant

I pull a sun from my coin purse each day.

And at night I let my pet the moon

Run freely into the sky meadow.

If I whistled,

She would turn her head and look at me.

If I then waved my arms,

She would come back wagging a marvelous tail

Of stars.

There are always a few men like me

In this world

Who are house-sitting for God.

We share His royal duties:

I water each day a favorite potted plant

Of His —

This earth.

Ask the Friend for love.

Ask Him again.

For I have learned that every heart will get

What it prays for

Most.

From: ‘The Subject Tonight Is Love’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

No More Leaving

At

Some point

Your relationship

With God

Will

Become like this:

Next time you meet Him in the forest

Or on a crowded city street

There won’t be anymore

“Leaving.”

That is,

God will climb into

Your pocket.

You will simply just take

Yourself

Along!

From: ‘The Gift’

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

sources:

https://telegra.ph/Hafez-Shirazi-Persian-Mystical-Poet-12-16

https://medium.com/@bestlife3822/the-best-hafez-poems-185762cf18f7?