Hafez, ghazal 1, Khanlari

الا یا ایّهاالسّاقی ادر کأساً و ناولها

که عشق آسان نمود اول ولی افتاد مشکلها

به بوی نافه‌ای کاخر صبا زان طرّه بگشاید

ز تاب زلف مشکینش چه خون افتاد در دلها

به می سجاده رنگین کن گرت پیر مغان گوید

که سالک بیخبر نبود ز راه و رسم منزلها

مرا در منزل جانان چه امن عیش چون هر دم

جرس فریاد میدارد که بر بندید محملها

شب تاریک و بیم موج و گردابی چنین هایل

کجا دانند حال ما سبکباران ساحلها

همه کارم ز خودکامی به بدنامی کشید، آری

نهان کی ماند آن رازی کز آن سازند محفلها

حضوری گر همی خواهد ازو غایب مشو حافظ

متی ‏ما تلق من تهوی دع الدنیا و اهملها

hazaj

مفاعیلن /مفاعیلن/مفاعیلن/مفاعیلن

1 alaa yaa ayyohassaaqi ader ka’san va naavelhaa

   ke eshq aasaan namud avval vali oftaad moshkelhaa

2 be bu-ye naafei kaakher sabaa zaan torre bogshaayad

   ze taab-e zolf-e moshkinash che khun oftaad dar delhaa

3 be mey sajjaade rangin kon garat pir-e moghaan guyad

   ke saalek bikhabar nabvad ze raah o rasm-e manzelhaa

4 maraa dar manzel-e jaanaan che amn-e ‘eysh chon har dam

   jaras faryaad midaarad ke bar bandid mahmelhaa

5 shab-e taarik o bim-e mowj o gerdaabi chonin haayel

   kojaa daanand haal-e maa sabokbaaraan-e saahelhaa

6 hame kaaram ze khodkaami be badnaami kashid, aari

  nahaan key maanad aan raazi kaz aan saazand mahfelhaa

7 hozuri gar hami khaahi az u ghaayeb mashow haafez

   mataamaa talqa man tahvaa da‘eddonyaa va ahmelhaa

Read from left to right the transcription above:

 fa‘ilaaton  / fa‘ilaaton /  fa‘ilaaton  /  fa‘ilaaton 

and 'classically'

˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ  / ˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ / ˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ / ˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ

Come now, saqi,

pass the cup around,

offer it to me.

Love, you know, came easy --

easy at first --

but then troubles began.

For the fragrance of musk which

Sabâ at long last will release from those locks,

from those twists of musk-dark curls,

what pain has flooded all hearts!

Dye the prayer mat in wine

if the Elder tells you to;

the traveler knows

what to do along the journey.

For me, wherever I find the beloved,

what assurance, what pleasure?

Every moment the call cries out:

'Fasten the load, time to go.'

Pitch black is the night,

terror in every wave's swell

and the whirlpool is so menacing --

how do they know what I feel,

those whose light load is now lifted

and who dwell safely on shore?

My every act--

my regard for having my wish --

has made my name notorious:

will those secrets ever stay hidden,

when meetings are held to air them out?

If you wish to have a presence,

do not be absent from that one, Hafez.

When you meet someone you are longing for,

Set the world aside

let go of it.

Notes: See note on Bâd-e Sabâ, in Ghazal 1 of this site

 (translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

 Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

This ghazal's theme of love's struggles and life's impermanence, is expressed in the now proverbial 2nd mesraa‘: 'love was easy at first, then came troubles.'  We hear of the enchantment of the beloved in the 2nd bayt where sadness and pain follow from the 'blood-congested heart' of lovers in anticipation.  What is a source of joy is painful!  These 'ups and downs' -- literally so in travel -- are expressed by 'the traveler will know what to expect on the way', that is, the experienced traveler knows there will be no smooth course, no permanent stops, but a journey characterized by stops and starts.  So if the wise pir says 'dye the prayer rug in wine' do it: what seems an outrageous act may be a liberating force for travelers to leave behind conventional ways and to travel on their own.  The speaker realizes, perhaps by his own liberation, that stuggles and difficulties remain; when settling down in love, there is immediate change -- the move is underway.  But the way is dark, the passage is fraught with darkness, fear and even the threat of going under -- situations that shoredwellers with their light load will be indifferent to.  The speaker voices awareness that further troubles can be consequences of actions, quite likely to happen if one takes one's own road: notoriety leads to gossip among fellow creatures.  Reminded of the beloved and the need for presence before the beloved, Hafez realizes that to do so he must bring his attentlon to the beloved and withdraw it from the world of gossip and perhaps from any notion of permanence.

A few remarks about the text and translation: First a note about my transcription of the Arabic and then a few observations about the rhythm of this ghazal and rhythms created by the hazaj meter:

• Although sounds of the vowels and certain consonants in Arabic will vary from my transcription, which attempts to be no more than a simplified transcripton, it is beyond the scope of this site and beyond my purpose to accomodate Arabic by a different set of characters.  Thoughts about the pronunciation of Arabic by Persians in Hafez's time is itself an interesting subject, and I would welcome discussion of this by viewers of this site

• Thiesen, Manual of Persian Prosody, ¶192, points out that in the hazaj meter the final syllable of the rokn (basic metrical unit, here mafaa‘ilon) frequently coincides with the final syllable of a word.  In fact in the famous 'Turk of Shiraz' (Khanlari 3) of the 72 arkân or metrical units, says Thiesen, only 5 times does that coincidence fail to happpen.  In the ghazal above, a metrical break or coincidence of word end with rokn comes after the first two rokn and 'divides' the mesraa‘ -- and this break or pause could even be called a syntactic pause. (In ghazal 3 on this site, it occurred to me that syntactic pause might in fact be a requirement for a double meter (the double meter in ghazal 3 is mozaare‘).)  And I wonder if in this ghazal whether syntactic pause/half-line metrical pause influences the rhythm of the ghazal.  Does it make the ghazal more memorable as jenâs, similarity of sound and sight may make a ghazal worthy of remembering or a poem not to be forgotten?  This cannot be answered without investigation but the idea leads me briefly to cite two further bits of information one from Michael Hillmann and a second from Franklin Lewis.
• Michael Hillmann, Unity in the Ghazals of Hafez, Bibliotheca Islamica, 1976, Chapter 5 but especially pages 86-88, wishes to show that in the hazaj meter -- and I simplify here-- Hafez creates unity in the ghazal through stress, accent and rhythm in which the intrinsic stress patterns of the Persian language, co-exist with the Arabic quantitative meter to create distinct rhythmic patterns. [A pattern that is not in evidence if the line is read (stress emphasis in bold): mafaa‘ilon / mafaa‘ilon / mafaa‘ilon / mafaa‘ilon or mafaa‘ilon].  
• Franklin Lewis, 'Hafez and Music,' Encyclopaedia Iranica, notes -- and adds to what Hillmann suggests -- the musical quality of the iambic stress pattern in this ghazal under discussion -- as example of this, ke ‘eshq aasaan ..., the second mesraa‘  is quoted.

The richness of language, the sounds, the pauses, any one or all of these contribute to effective and what I am calling 'memorable' delivery.  A metrical pattern cannot curb the expressions and language the poet or speaker chooses.  'Departure' from the pattern for reasons above creates a tension between metrical pattern and delivery.  And this surely creates a poem free from monotony.   I am also reminded of a quote from Wordsworth which introduces Part One of Thiesen's Manual: "There neither nor can be any essential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition".

For bayt 1, see the following and also notes on this bayt in 'Update' below.  Peter Avery in his translation (Peter Avery tr., Collected Lyrics of Háfiz of Shíráz, Archetype, www.archetype.uk.com, 2007) has a note that Qazvini has refuted the imputation, perhaps first made by the Turkish Hafez commentator, Sudi, in the 16th century, C.E., which suggests that the Arabic invocation was borrowed from a yet undiscovered poem of the Ummayad Caliph Yazid ibn Mu’âwiya (who had ordered the action carried out against Huseyn, the prophet's grandson, at Kerbala).  Avery thinks that Hafez is 'echoing' a verse of Sa‘di.  This invocation seems straightforward and it seems to me does not need an antecedent unless the source is obvious. (See Gertrude Bell's note on this bayt, Poems from the Divan of Hafiz, London, 1928, p. 145 in which Gertrude Bell gives what is said to be Hafez's response to including a quote from the 'abhorred Yezid', that is that 'it was good policy to steal from the heretics whatsover they possessed of worth.'  The alteration of Arabic and Persian is called ملمّع / molamma‘ , 'variegated', but only two couplets are affected in this ghazal.  The imperative ader means to 'pass around' so the expression may be formulaic: pass the cup around (and), present it, virtually saying the same thing. I am told that the second mesraa‘ proverbially applies not only to a romantic undertaking but to any endeavor, where love and gusto are first in evidence, say, in learning tennis, and after a while there are challenges and 'troubles.'

bayt 2 -- kaaher = ke + aakher; ke is the relative pronoun,its antecedent is bu-(ye), and object of the verb bogshaayad and serves as a referent to the next mesraa‘; note the similarity between moshkelhaa and moshkinash and repetition of oftaad.  There is 'trouble' rather, agony in anticipation, for impatient hearts/lovers who must wait for Bad-e Sabâ to loosen the beloved's locks.  And interwoven in the language of this bayt, in the several meanings of some of the words, the suffering of the musk-deer is on even footing with the suffering of the lovers: "There is play of meaning upon the musk which is obtained at the cost of the deer's life-blood and the tears of blood which the lover weeps for his mistress." (Getrude Bell, 146, and see Khorramshahi, 1.92-93, especially p.93 for the 'play of meaning' in this bayt).

bayt 3 --  In some manuscripts, notably Qazvini's, Khanlari's bayts 3 and 4 are reversed (4>3 and 3>4). See Khorramshahi (1.95) for his note on سجاده: the prayer rug is to be kept clean but the overdoing of it, repeated washings, سجاده به آب کشیدن , is a proverbial expression for hypocrisy -- making a show of religious piety or asceticism.

The pir's guidance is important: پیر مغان / pir-e moghaan, spiritual guide (of the Magians).  See discussion and historical role of pir-e moghaan from wine-seller to mentor in Khorramshahi, 1. 95-99 and a list of his names and 'titles' as they appear in divaan-e Hafez, p.98; also read articles by J.T.P. de Bruijn, 'Hafez's Poetic Art' in Encyclopaedia Iranica and Franklin Lewis in EI, 'Hafez and Rendi'(under 'Figures of Authority').  'Figure of authority' is apt for 'newer ways and authorities' do not suffice:

مرید پیر مغانم ز من مرنج ای شیخ
چرا که وعده تو کردی و او بجا آورد

I am a disciple of the pir-e moghaan--

don't be upset with me, sheykh;

Why so?  You made a promise but he followed through

(Hafez, 141.8; cf. 72.10 for on-again, off-again attention of sheykh and 'preacher' in contrast with consistency of the pir-e kharaabaat)

And also in Hafez, 154.4, the pir-e moghaan freed him of   جهل  / ignorance. And, 263.4, if pain and sorrow should ambush you, the pir offers a 'protective shield' 

For a lengthy discussion of pir-e moghaan, see Khorramshahi (1.95-99).  I summarize some of his points as well secondary evidence that he cites.  Khorramshahi's text is rich in abyat from Hafez in order to illustrate three stages found in Hafez's ghazals which relate to the journey and to the pir: 1) being lost and needing to find a way 2) establishing the need and knowing in oneself that a guide or teacher must be found 3) presenting the pir-e moghaan and related accounts.  According to Khorramshahi there is no evidence or record of an official pir for Hafez; however, Hafez was in the service of such a guide and relied on him.  And the pir moghaan would have had gravitas or sufficient authority and station for Hafez to consult with him and to listen to what he had to say: wine-seller function alone would not have sufficed.   Khorramshahi cites evidence (1.99) that the pir is sometimes called سالک / saalek, and you may see him as saalek here, armed with the knowledge of what to do along the journey, the raah o rasm-e manzelhaa, which he imparts to the morid or aspirant .   Gertrude Bell in her rendition of this ghazal takes this view:

Hear the Tavern-keeper who counsels you:
"With wine, with red wine your prayer carpet dye!"
There was never a traveller like him but knew
The ways of the road and the hostelry.

(See Update below for the Bell's complete rendition)

bayt 4 -- che amn-e ‘eysh  chon har dam ... I wonder if this phrase is not delivered tongue in cheek as Hafez realizes the impossibility of love to stand put (Ghazal 5, Khanlari 461):

in love safety and peace are hazards --  در طریق عشقبازی امن و آسایش بلاست

bayt 5 -- the sabokbaaraan, those who load is light  -- perhaps their load had always been light but I envisage both an easy sea-crossing with light baggage. Now that they are ashore their bags are put down -- no weight at all is on them; kojaa = how

bayt 6 -- as said in the summary above, the self-determined course carries consequencies and 'having a bad name' is not a bad thing; aari introduces what is to follow: perhaps 'however' would be a way of translating this word in context

bayt  7 -- 'presence' as a mystical concept is absence of self-absorbtion and pre-occupation with the world and so, one by rejection draws near to God. For Hafez as seen in this bayt piety is not the driving force for attaining presence but love is the impetus to renounce the world and gain presence with the beloved

روشن از پرتو رویت نظری نیست که نیست

منت خاک درت بر بصری نیست که نیست

ناظر روی تو صاحب‏نظرانند آری

سرّ گیسوی تو در هیچ سری نیست که نیست

اشک من گر غمت سرخ  بر آمد چه عجب

خجل از کردهٔ خود پرده دری نیست که نیست

تا به دامن ننشیند ز نسیمت گردی

سیل‏خیز از نظرم ره‏گذری نیست که نیست

تا دم از شام سر زلف تو هر جا نزند

با صبا گفت و شنیدم سحری نیست که نیست

من از این طالع شوریده به رنجم ورنه

بهره‏‏‏مند از سر کویت دگری نیست که نیست

از حیای لب شیرین تو ای چشمهٔ نوش

غرق آب و عرق اکنون شکری نیست که نیست

مصلحت نیست که از پرده برون افتد راز

ورنه از مجلس رندان خبری نیست که نیست

شیر در بادیهٔ عشق تو روباه شود

آه از این راه که در وی خطری نیست که نیست

آب چشمم که برو منت خاک در تست

زیر صد منت او خاک دری نیست که نیست

از وجودم قدری نام و نشان هست که هست

ورنه از ضعف در آنجا اثری نیست که نیست

غیر ازین نکته که حاقظ زتو نا خشنودست

در سراپای وجودت هنری نیست که نیست

 ramal variety:

فاعلاتن یا فعلاتن/ فعلاتن/ فعلاتن/ فع لن یا فعلن

1 rowshan az partow-e ruyat nazari nist ke nist

   mennat-e khaak-e darat bar basari nist ke nist

2 naazar-e  ruy-e to saahebnazaraanand aari 

   serr-e gisu-ye to dar hich sari nist ke nist

3 ashk-e man gar ghamat sorkh bar aamad che ‘ajab   

   khajal az karde-ye khod pardedari nist ke nist

4 taa be daaman naneshinad ze nasimat gardi

   seylkhiz az nazaram rahgozari nist ke nist

5 taa dam az shaam sar-e zolf-e to har jaa nazanad

   baa sabaa goft o shenidam sahari nist ke nist

6 man az in taale‘-e shuride be ranjam varna

   bahremand az sar-e kuyat degari nist ke nist 

7 az hayaa-ye lab-e shirin-e to ey chashme-ye nush 

   gharq-e aab o ‘araq aknun shakari nist ke nist

8 maslahat nist ke az parde berun oftad raaz

   varna az majles-e rendaan khabari nist ke nist

9 shir dar baadiye-ye ‘eshq-e to rubaah shavad

   aah az in raah ke dar vey khatari nist ke nist

10 aab-e chashmam ke bar u mennat-e khaak-e dar-e tost

    zir-e sad mennat-e u khaak-e dari nist ke nist

11 az vojudam qadari naam o neshaan hast ke hast

    varna az za‘f dar aanjaa asari nist ke nist

12 gheyr azin nokte ke haafez ze to naa khoshnudast

    dar saraapaa-ye vojudat honari nist ke nist

Read from left to right the transcription above:

 faa‘elaaton or fa‘elaaton/fa‘elaaton/ fa‘elaaton/ faa‘lon or fa‘elon

and 'classically'

ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ  or ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ/ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ / ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ  / ˉ ˉ or ˘ ˘ ˉ

There is no look that does not glow from the radiance of your face;

there is no eye that is not indebted to the dust of your door.

Those who observe you are men of discernment -- but

there is no one who fails to see the mystery in your tresses.

If my eyes are blood-red crying tears of love for you,

no wonder,

there is no one who removes the veil of secrecy

and remains unashamed of his actions.

So that no dust scattered by the breeze settles on your skirt,

there is no pathway my tearful eyes do not flood.

So that he does not bandy about evenings spent with your tresses,

there is no morning that I do not quarrel with Bâd-e Saba.

It is from misfortune that I am in agony -- otherwise,

there is no one who does not enjoy the street you live on.

Out of shame to behold your sweet lips, source of delights,

there is no sweet, no sugar

that is not bathed in sweat.

It is not good when secrets are revealed -- though

there is no end of stories in the gatherings of rends.

Lions in the desert of your love become foxes. Ahhh!

There is no danger which does not dwell on the road that goes there.

My tears, which are in debt to the dust of your door,

there is no door whose dust is not grateful a hundredfold for them.

Yes, in my life I have some reputation, otherwise,

there is no trace of weakness found there … which, of course, is not true!

Setting aside that Hafez is not happy with you,

there is no virtue which is not in your nature through and through.

 (translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

 Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

ساقی حدیث سرو و گل و لاله میرود

وین بحث با ثلاثهٔ غساله میرود

می ده که نو عروس سخن حد حسن یافت

کار این زمان ز صنعت دلاله میرود

شکرشکن شوند همه طوطیان هند

زین قند پارسی که به بنگاله میرود

طیّ مکان ببین و زمان در سلوک شعر

کاین طفل یکشبه  ره یکساله میرود

آن چشم جادوانهٔ عابدفریب بین

کش کاروان سحر ز دنباله میرود

از ره مرو به عشوهٔ دنیا که این عجوز

 مکاره مینشیند و محتاله میرود

خوی‌کرده میخرامد و بر عارض سمن

از شرم روی او عرق از ژاله میرود

باد بهار میوزد از گلستان شاه

وز ژاله باده در قدح لاله میرود

حافظ ز شوق مجلس سلطان غیاث دین

خامش مشو که کار تو از ناله میرود

meter: mozaare‘

مفعولُ /فاعلاتُ /مفاعیلُ /فاعلن

1 saaqi hadis-e sarv o gol o laale miravad

   vin bahs baa salaase-ye ghassaale miravad

2 mey deh ke now ‘arus-e sokhan hadd-e hosn yaaft

   kaar  in zamaan ze san‘at-e dallaale miravad

3 shakkarshekan shavand hame tutiyaan-e hend

   zin qand-e paarsi ke be bangaale miravad

4 tayy-e makaan bebin o zamaan dar soluk-e she‘r

   kin tefl yakshabe rah-e yaksaale miravad

5 aan chashm-e jaadovaane-ye ‘aabedfarib bin

   kash kaarvaan-e sehr ze dombaale miravad

6 az rah marow be‘eshve-ye donyaa ke in ‘ajuz

    makkaare mineshinad o mohtaale miravad

7 khoykarde mikharaamad o bar  ‘aarez-e saman

   az sharm-e ruy-e u ‘araq az zhaale miravad

8 baad-e bahar mivazad az golsetaan-e shaah

   vaz zhaale baade dar qadah-e laale miravad

9 haafez ze showq-e majles-e soltaan ghiyaas-e din

   khaamosh mashow ke kaar-e to az naale miravad

Read from left to right the transcription above:

maf‘ulo/faa‘elaato/mafaa‘ilo/ faa‘elon

and 'classically'

ˉ ˉ ˘ / ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ / ˘ ˉ ˉ ˘ /  ˉ ˘

Saqi,

everyone is talking about the cypress, rose and tulip

so let us consecrate

          our disquistion

                   with triple ablution.

Pass ‘round the wine,

the new bride of poetry

is dressed in beauty’s full splendor:

our work will now proceed with the skill of a matchmaker.

All the parrots in India

          will talk sweet talk

                   from this Persian sugar

                             on its way to Bengal.

From place to place, through time,

                   see how poetry travels,                           

this child in just one evening

                   journeys for one whole year!

And see those enchanting eyes

          spellbinding the pious  

                   and close behind goes the caravan of magic…

the beloved walks gracefully, brow bedewed,

and on the brow of the jasmine,

ashamed to behold the face of the beloved,

dewdrops trickle.

Keep straight ahead,

don’t take the turn to World-Deception:

this old woman will deceive you -- 

ever before you but never changing.

Spring winds are blowing             

from the shah’s rose garden,        

and wine-like dew is filling the tulip’s bowl.       

Hafez, joyful in the presence of Soltân Ghiâs-e Din,

don’t grow quiet now: your work comes from song.

 (translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

This poem serves as exhortation to the poet to continue writing ghazals and as praise to the shâh (unspecified) and to Soltân (Sultan) Ghiâsoddin.  In first reading this ghazal, I imagined it delivered to an audience where the poet speaks directly to those gathered at the majles.  Saqi is turned to and the poem is underway:  the talk on everyone's lips is about springtime and for this present gathering there is need to consecrate the undertaking with the wine saqi will bring. The gathering learns that something important is happening: the poet's verse-making has reached its summit, a new era begins and wine wil furnish the creative spark.  Now the poet muses on world-acceptance of his verse.  Poems travel to India where native speakers will recite them; amazing how quickly these ghazals travel across distances!

The speaker digresses perhaps by gazing in the distance and telling the guests, maybe even with gestures, of the beguiling eyes that hoodwink the pious; and of the magic caravans which follow behind.  Then as admonition likely to himself to continue the path that poet and poetry must take, he warns of the ways of the world, seen as an old. probably heavily rouged. woman, who is enticing for all that and still followed by the deluded -- 'don't go this way',  he says, it is the way of deception.'

And rhapsodically, ridding all present of the image of the old hag, he idolizes the beloved who is so graceful and beautiful that flowers, here the jasmine, are ashamed of their beauty when beholding the beauty of the beloved. 

Praise comes: the audience hears of favorable days in store which come as winds which blow spring breezes from the shah's rose garden.  And finally Hafez acknowledges the joy received from the majles of Soltân Ghiâsoddin and tells himself to give voice to his work, for that work is in the song of poetry.  

A few remarks on the text and translation: bayt 1 -- for this examination, this discourse, this 'disquistion' an initial purification is required which will consists of three cups of wine; the poet and company need to be free from the impediments that will hinder the process before them.  The reference is to the performance of  a major ablution, غسل / ghosl, a complete washing of the body to allow an individual, among other things, to enter a mosque or a space ritually designated for prayer.  This amazing language seemed to call for equally unusual English and so: 'let us consecrate our disquisition with triple ablution'. Bayt 2 gets to the point: poetry (here. sokhan) is dressed in bridal finery having achieved the highest degree of excellence (hadd-e hosn yaaft).  The triple ablution is the matchmaker that will allow what will be the next stage of versifying (the work from right now forward: این زمان / in zamaan is used adverbially)

bayt 3 -- with sugary 'sh'-sounds ('sugary' to my ears), all the parrots of India will become sweet-spoken/eloquent (shakkarshekan) from this Persian sugar (the poetry) which is going to Bengal;  shakkarshekan means 'having/possessing sweet song or melody an exocentric or bahuvrihi compound. The area of Pârs, from which pârsi, the language, was in southwestern Iran, encompassing Shiraz, home of Hafez.  Now called Fârs (the province)/fârsi (the language).  Popular belief holds that, under the influence of Arabic -- Arabic has no pe --  pârsi > fârsi but this may not be so as there are f and p interchanges in Persian words of non-Arabic origin, see page in Dehkhoda, loghatnaameh for examples (and examples of words/names arabicized from p to f). 

bayt 4 -- follows closely on 3 -- the transmission of poetry across time boundaries and borders seems instantaneous.  This phenomenon seems more magical than the magical conjuring which occurs in bayt 5.  Only from the transliteration can it be seen for certain that I construe yakshabe as an adverb (= 'in one evening') whereas it could also be an adjective, 'this one evening's child' -- our discussions favored the use as an adjective to avoid a consonant cluster which in general is preferable wherever possible; the 'sense' of 'child of one evening' may be more appropriate to allow just a little time for the transmission of the poem! I do like the magical and startling effect of 'in one evening'; an anecdote from the advent of radio: I was told that when it was possible for instantaneous transmission to occur, from Cairo there was a broadcast to the Arabic-speaking world of a concert given by the celebrated singer, Umm Kulthum and the composer-conductor, Mohamed Abdel Wahab.  All radios were tuned and the first song was a sensation across time and place in just one evening -- it was انت عمري / anta ‘omri / 'You are my life'

bayts 5 and 6 -- in the fifth bayt the poet seems to be taunting the pious with the enchanting eyes of beauties gazing at them; this bayt, although a digression, flows from the previous bayt, which has mysterious qualities, and is prelude to bayt 6 where a 'real' beauty is introduced, a beauty listeners may more readily recognize. In bayt 5, kash, the pronominal suffix -ash is construed with ze dombaale, 'close behind them' that is, 'the enchanting eyes spellbind the pious'.  Bayt 6, as presented in the general discussion above, is a remarkable trope: the jasmine out of shame 'sweats' dew;  apart from the shame (and a reason has to be given) the actions of both are the same

bayt 7 -- Loss by world attachment must surely be one of the oldest themes.  Here the 'world' is an old woman (and we are to imagine the accoutrements, make-up, dress, the trying to be beautiful) who manages to entice those who will insist on believing that what they see is really not so and all will be beautiful if they engage this worldly image

bayts 8 and 9 -- the mention of favorable times -- spring winds and the celebration of nature's beauty and goodness; as said above, Hafez recognizes where his work lies, perhaps in creating for this new era of poetry.  Khanlari in his second volume does identify certain persons mentioned by Hafez but does not list Soltân Ghiâsoddin, but there is a reference in Edward Browne's Literary History of Persia (see my sidebar bibliography) 3.286-287 and footnotes, which identifies him as ruler of Bengal and was said to have corresponded with Hafez and that Hafez wrote this ghazal for him.  And we don't know the ruler referred to in bayt 8 but visitors will see in an article in the Encyclopaedia Iranica 'Hafez ii: Hafez's Life and Times' that two are likely candidates along with the caveat issued in this essay about the hazards of trying to identify notables from evidence in the ghazals themselves

یاد باد آنکه نهانت نظری با ما بود

رفم مهر تو بر چهرهٔ ما پیدا بود

یاد باد آنکه چو چشمت به عتابم میکشت

معجز عیسویت در لب شکرخا بود

یاد باد آنکه صبوحی ‏زده  در مجلس انس

جز من و یار نبودیم و خدا با ما بود

یاد باد آنکه رخت شمع طرب میافروخت

وین دل سوخته پروانهٔ ناپروا بود

یاد باد آنکه در آن بزمگه خلق و ادب

آنکه او خندهٔ مستانه زدی صهبا بود

یاد باد آنکه چو یاقوت قدح خنده زدی

در میان من و لعل تو حکایتها بود

یاد باد آنکه مه من چو کله بر بستی

در رکابش مه نو پیک جهان‌پیما بود

یاد باد آنکه خرابات‌نشین بودم و مست

وانچه در مسجدم امروز کم است آنجا بود

یاد باد آنکه به اصلاح شما میشد راست

نظم هر گوهر ناسفته که حافظ را بود

meter: ramal variety

فاعلاتن یا فعلاتن/ فعلاتن/ فعلاتن /فع لن یا فعلن

1 yaad baad aanke nehaanat nazari baa maa bud

   raqam-e mehr-e to bar chehre-ye maa peydaa bud

2 yaad baad aanke cho chashmat be ‘etaabam mikosht

   mo‘jez-e  ‘isaviyat dar lab-e shakkarkhaa bud

3 yaad baad aanke sabuhi zade dar majles-e ons

   joz man o yaar nabudim o khodaa baa maa bud

4 yaad baad aanke rokhat sham‘ e tarab miafrukht

   vin del-e sukhte parvaane-ye naaparvaa bud

5 yaad baad aanke dar aan bazmgah-e kholq o adab

   aanke u khande-ye mastaane zadi sahbaa bud

6 yaad baad aanke cho yaaqut-e qadah khande zadi

   dar miyaan-e man o la‘ l-e to hekaayathaa bud

7 yaad baad aanke mah-e man cho kolah bar basti

   dar rekaabash mah-e now peyk-e jahaanpeymaa bud

8 yaad baad aanke kharaabaatneshin budam o mast

   vaanche dar masjedam emruz kam ast aanjaa bud

9 yaad baad aanke be eslaah-e shomaa mishod raast

   nazm-e har gowhar-e naasofte ke haafez raa bud

Read left to right for transcripion above:

faa‘ elaaton or fa‘ elaaton/fa‘ elaaton/fa‘ elaaton/fa‘  lon or fa‘ elon

or 'classically'

ˉ ˘ˉ  ˉ or ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ/˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ  / ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ / ˉ ˉ or ˘ ˘ ˉ

Never let me forget

          the stolen glances you gave me

                   signs of my love for you showed on my face.

Never let me forget

          when your eyes were killing me with scorn

                   the Christian miracle in your sweet lips

                             brought me back to life.

Never let me forget

          the morning drink at the love-gathering

                   only my love and I were there and God was with us.

Never let me forget

          the candle of joy lighting your face,

                   yet my heart was consumed—

                             this moth was reckless.

Never let me forget

          at the banquet of elegant friends

                   the drunken laugh we heard

                             came from the wine itself.

Never let me forget

          you laughed

                   like wine rippling in the cup;

                             between me and your ruby lips

                                      stories were told.

Never let me forget,

          my love, when you donned your hat

                   the new moon was at your service

                             to guide you across the world.

Never let me forget

          I dwelled in taverns and was drunk,

                   and what is not in my mosque today     

                             had been there.

Never let me forget

          by your goodness it was fixed

                   the order of every unpierced pearl

                             which was to belong to Hafez.

(translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

This is a love poem, a poem of remembrance and tribute to the beloved 'you', with a moment's sadness for what is now past. The ghazal concludes with acknowledgment of the beloved as the poet-lover's Muse.  Recollections recall the various situations and times lover and beloved were together, perhaps from the first meetings -- unmistakeable signs of love in hidden glances and the glances returned -- although the ghazal, which has unity of theme, does not move sequentially.

Each couplet begins, 'may there be memory' which I have translated as  'never let me forget'.  What I find interesting and a departure from other ghazals and especially ghazals on this site, is that this is not a poem of unrequited love or of the pain of love but one of deep respect and sentiment for what has transpired and what is now immortalized by the continuation of feelings of love for the beloved.  (This is an example of why Hafez cannot be categorized as, say, a poet who speaks only of rejection and pain or can Hafez be thought of as a poet who wears exclusive labels.)

Memories here are: sweet kisses reviving love which has ebbed as it will in the sure consistency of attraction and rejection of the lover by the beloved; the morning drink taken in sacred presence; the flame of happiness and joy in the beloved's countenance -- the lover, by coming so close was consumed by it; the banquet with other guests and the wine which 'laughed drunkenly' -- and the beloved's laugh which rippled like red wine in the cup; the stories told about the lovers; the beloved's beauty so fetching that the new moon acted as cosmic guide to the beloved; the lover's refection on what was then but is not now; and finally, the tribute: the beloved fixed the order of the words the poet was to compose.

A few remarks about the text and translation: the first words of each couplet, یاد باد آنکه / yaad baad aanke I have translated (as said above), 'Never let me forget.' آنکه / aanke -- not needed grammatically, and it might be thought of as in English, 'that (thing/matter/event) -- may there be memory of it -- was the stolen glances...' or 'it was the stolen glances ... may there be memory of it'; in Persian it points to or signals the matter to be remembered. For bayt 2 compare ghazal 71.6:

از روان‏بخشی عیسی نزنم پیش تو دم

زانکه در روح‏‏‏فزائی چو لبت ماهر نیست

 I will breathe no word to you of the life-giving ways of Jesus;

in giving life, nothing compares with the skill of your lips

bayt 3 & 4 -- صبوحی زده / sabuhi zade, 'the morning drink (which was) taken/drunk at the love-gathering'; this was an act of union of lover and beloved, apart from others (if there were others) at this love-gathering, and the presence of God signifies an experience both mystical and indescribable, an action consummated by the sacrifice of the lover to the beloved in the familiar image of moth and candle.  'Heedless' (though there may be better choices for naaparvaa) means that the lover is really aware but not anxious over a heart about to be consumed by this union -- parvaane-ye naaparvaa, an example of jenâs / جناس / 'similarity' (the figure of speech discussed in Ghazal 8)

bayt 5 --  the second mesraa‘: 'that one who kept up the drunken laughing, it (او) was the wine' -- this conceit is effective in surprising and amusing us --  'The drunken laughter?  Why, that's the wine in its cups'; zadi (=mizad) is the progressive past tense formed by adding the enclitic ی / i to the past tense of the verb.

bayt 6 -- quite another laugh here, the laugh of the beloved, the precious jewel of the beloved's mouth from which laughter came rippling like red wine ripples at the cup's surface ... many stories were told about the lover and his sweetheart's ruby-lips

bayt 7 -- the beloved is addressed as مه من / mah-e man / 'my moon' (= my dear, my sweetheart), which serves as the pronominal object attached to rekaab(-ash) in the second mesraa‘: the new moon was at the service of him/her (my moon) / went alongside as escort in world travel.  The first mesraa‘ addresses the beloved ('you') and the second is the speaker's reflection (in the 3rd person) on what occurred after the hat was in place.  We have seen the verbal suffix -peymaa in baadpeymaa, literally, 'measuring the wind' (Ghazal 6.6.2).  Here the meaning is 'travelling through' or 'traversing' (measuring distances) again in an endocentric or tat purusha compound.  It is a fine image of the beloved, beautiful and outfitted for world-travel with the new moon as escort. در رکاب بودن / dar rekaab budan  is an idiom meaning 'in attendance or in the service of' - it takes its meaning from an attendant or someone of lesser station walking or running beside rider and horse and therefore in the service of the rider; and thinking of rekaab as stirrup, the primary meaning, it calls to mind the beloved standing in the stirrup-like arc of the new moon!

bayts 8 and 9 -- perhaps 8 means only that what the speaker found in religious observance in the past is not present today (masjed = religion, religious practice or observance in contrast with kharaabaat); bayt 9 is the recognition of the beloved's inspiration, the beloved as benevolent Muse in the service of Hafez through creating verses and determining their order as pearls, by poetic fancy, created from raindrops and when fully nurtured in the shell, brought forth, pierced and then strung in an order determined by the jeweller

سمن‌بویان غبار غم چو بنشینند بنشانند

پری‌رویان قرار دل چو بستیزند بستانند

به فتراک جفا دلها چو بر بندند بر بندند

ز زلف عنبرین جانها چو بگشایند بفشانند

به عمری یک نفس با ما چو بنشینند بر خیزند

نهال شوق در خاطر چو بر خیزند بنشانند

ز چشمم لعل رمّانی چو میخندند میبارند

ز رویم راز پنهانی چو میبینند میخوانند

سرشک گوشه‌گیران را چو در یابند دُر یابند

  رخ مهر از سحرخیزان نگردانند اگر دانند

چو منصور از مراد آنان که بر دارند بر دارند

بدین درگاه حافظ را چو میخوانند میرانند

در این حضرت چو مشتاقان نیاز آرند ناز آرند

که با این درد اگر در بند درمانند در مانند

meter: hazaj

مفاعیلن/مفاعیلن/ مفاعیلن/مفاعیلن

1 samanbuyaan ghobaar-e gham cho benshinand benshaanand

   pariruyaan qaraar-e del cho bestizand bestaanand

2 be fetraak-e jafaa delhaa cho bar bandand bar bandand

   ze zolf-e ‘ambarin jaanhaa cho bogshaayand befshaanand

3 be ‘omri yak nafas baa maa cho benshinand bar khizand

   nahaal-e showq dar khaater cho bar khizand benshaanand

4 ze chashmam la‘l-e rommaani cho mikhandand mibaarand

   ze ruyam raaz-e penhaani cho mibinand mikhaanand

5 sereshk-e gushegiraan raa cho dar yaaband dor yaaband

   rokh-e mehr az saharkhizaan nagardaanand agar daanand

6 cho mansur az moraad aanaan ke bar daarand bar daarand

   bedin dargaah haafez raa cho mikhaanand miraanand

7 darin hazrat cho moshtaaqaan niyaaz aarand naaz aarand

   ke baa in dard agar dar band-e darmaanand dar maanand

Read left to right for transcripton above:

mafaa‘ilon/mafaa ilon/mafaa‘ilon/mafaa‘ilon

or 'classically'

˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ/ ˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ/ ˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ/ ˘ ˉ ˉ ˉ

When the jasmine-scented sit,

they settle the dust of longing.

When the fairy-faced wrangle,

they snatch peace from the heart.

When they pack up to leave,

they hitch hearts to the saddle-strap of disloyalty.

When they let fall their amber tresses,

they cause hearts to take a tumble.

When they sit with me

          for just one moment,

                   they get up to leave;

                             when they stand before me,

                                       they plant a lasting joy in my heart.

When they laugh,

they make my eyes red

with tears shed like rubies.

When they sense a secret of mine,

they see it written on my face.

When they see the tears of the recluse,

these tears are like pearls to them;

they do not shield early-risers from the face of the sun

if they are wise.

Those who enjoy the fruits of their wishes,

meet their end on the gallows like Mansur.

When they beckon Hafez to this wishful state,

they go and push him away.

When lovers in their desirous state bring gifts,

the jasmine-scented and fairy-faced are coy.

So it is,

          if lovers look to a remedy

                   for the pain of love    

they are finished.

Notes: for the reference to Mansur al Hallâj in bayt 6, see Cyril Glassé's article in New Encyclopedia of Islam, 3rd ed., Rowan and Littlefield, 2008, 182-188. And also, with extensive bibliography, see the article by Jawid Mojaddedi in Encyclopaedia Iranica.

Mansur al Hallâj, a mystic about whom much has been written, was executed in 922 (C.E) for heresy.  In this ghazal, 'those who enjoy the fruits of their wishes/meet their end...' Hafez alludes to Mansur's public revelations of mystical experiences, disclosures which perhaps were also 'heretical' among mystics, cf:

جرمش این بود که اسرار هویدا میکرد

'His crime was that he revealed secrets of mystical experience' (ghazal 136, 6.2)

 (translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

This is a stunning ghazal of syntactic maneuver and word-play; from the outset, viewers will notice similar sound patterns, especially in the last four words in each mesraa‘ where there is a repetition of the couplet (verb) rhyme -and  with the verbal ending -and  in cho-clauses and throughout the ghazal.  More will be said about word-play below.  (For sounds, patterns, richness in rhythm see Franklin Lewis, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Hafez and Music' and Michael Hillmann, Unity in the Ghazals of Hafez, Bibliotheca Islamica, 1976, especially the fifth chapter, 'Thematic Unity and the Importance of Rhyme and Rhythm in Hafez's Ghazals'.)

For all that, this ghazal proceeds with unity. Here is my paraphrase: the beauties, the jasmine-scented and fairy-faced, bring both peace and agitation.  If they choose to be disloyal, they make ready to take off like a horse who pulls a hapless victim behind.  And if they let fall their beautiful tresses, it's all over for their admirers.  When they sit beside the speaker for just a minute or two, they then get up to leave.  And happiness takes firm root in the heart as they stand to go! When they laugh (derisively), they cause the speaker to weep copiously.  And when they feel that the speaker is concealing love for them, the speaker's eyes are the giveaway.  Yet when they see the tears of the reclusive, they see them as pearls: and if they use good judgment, they will make sure to let early-risers see the sunrise.  Now those who take pleasure in and even talk about wishes the beloved has granted, like Mansur, are strung up.  But Hafez (and others) when the jasmine-scented and fairy-faced call him (them) to this state of wish fulfillment, they drive him (them) away.  When lovers in this wishful state bring gifts to petition these beauties, they are coy.  That's the way it is: if lovers look to presents and petitions as remedies for the love-pains they feel, it's fatal -- they are 'finished.'

A few remarks on the text and translation, first on working through difficulties in syntactic relationships and word-play, جناس / jenâs / 'similarity' in Persian:

• the jasmine-scented and fairy-faced, these beauties ('they') are the subject of all the verbs until bayt 6, where the first mesraa‘ has another subject, آنان /aanaan, but in the 2nd mesraa ‘ 'they' are again subjects; in the final couplet the subject of each mesraa‘ is مشتاقان / moshtaaqaan/'lovers'

• very basic but worth saying: it may be easier to understand the syntactic relationships of چو/cho clauses within the mesraa‘  by first realizing that direct objects follow transitive verbs yet prepositional phrases have freedom to 'attach themselves' to either transitive or intransitive verbs

• Word-play by bayt number: 
  •  2- (cho) bar bandand, '(when) they decide/fix their minds' and bar bandand, 'they hitch/fasten'       
  •  5- (cho) dar yaaband /  dor yaaband, where dar / دَر  is the verbal prefix and dor / دُر  is pearl(s), the noun object of yaaband
  •  5- (n)agar daanand / agar daanand, the verb, 'they do not turn' and the conjunction, agar,'if', with the verb daanand, 'they have their wits about them' 
  •  6- bar daarand / bar daarand, the noun, bar, 'fruits, yield, profit' and the verb daarand 'they have or hold on to' (and so here 'enjoy') with the preposition bar, 'upon' and the noun daar, 'gallows' + the verbal suffix -and, 'they are on the gallows'
  •  7- (ni) yaaz aarand / naaz aarand, both verbs, aarand, 'they bring / display'; ni (yaaz) 'gifts' and naaz, 'coyness'
  •  7- darmaanand / dar maanand, darmaan, the noun, 'cure, remedy' + the verbal suffix -and, 'if they are bent on finding a cure' - darmaanand is part of idiomatic expression (see below) -  with dar, verbal prefix, + maanand, the verb, 'they are stuck, finished'

Categories or types of jenâs will be found in a 2009 article 'Rhetorical Figures' written by Natalia Chalisova in Encyclpaedia Iranica.

What you see above is only a hint of the richness in the language of this ghazal.  I like  'jasmine-scented' and 'fairy-faced'  though they are not usual English expressions.  'Pack up to leave' in the second couplet: there was discussion about the meaning of the first bar bandand and 'they decide' was appealing; however, in the translation, packing up suited the horse or camel image and is actually a meaning of the prefix and verb. 

bayt 3: just the shortest bit of time, 'one moment in a lifetime', is needed to plant a deep and abiding joy in the speaker's heart.  This is realized when the jasmine-scented and fairy-faced rise and stand though they soon will go.  It must be a moment of sadness (though that is left unsaid) mixed with this deep happiness.  nahaal neshaandan is the final planting of a shrub or tree, when the sapling is strong enough to take root and grow.

bayt 4: ze chashmam la‘l-e rommani -  'they make pomegranate rubies (flow) from my eyes' -  here, by 'rubies' what is meant are the eyes made red from crying and the tears are like pomegranate seeds. Apparently  these beauties laugh derisively or scornfully which brings on weeping.  raaz-e penhaani - the secret is really the speaker's love for them which his eyes betray.

bayt 5: the ye MS was chosen because of the positioning of this couplet in the order.  It seems to be well-placed here following the tears just mentioned.  This bayt still seems obscure to me: the recluse, perhaps darvish or rend, here the plural gushegiraan, is respected by the jasmine-scented and fairy-faced and tears the recluse sheds are like pearls --  the gushegir or gusheneshin, 'corner seekers' or 'corner sitters', remain apart by choice; early risers may be praying, waiting the arrival of auspicious news or having a morning drink and must not be deprived of this early time.  How the beauties might deprive them of the 'face of the sun' is unknown unless it is by whim, by wrangling or amorous distraction.  rokh-e mehr can also mean 'the face of love' --  it is unclear which is meant but I prefer 'face of the sun'.

bayts 6 & 7: enjoying the fruits of one's wishes is a dangerous state; it is really a non-state, here a death-state, since there is no permanent place to stop and rest -- and surely not in love or rapture.  Hafez speaks of this in Ghazal 5:   در طریق عشقبازی امن و آسایش بلاست   I think that what Hafez means by 'when they beckon Hafez to this wishful state, they go and push him away' Hafez speaks of himself and almost everyone; most are subject to the 'law of coquetry' where there is constant pulling towards and pushing away on the beloved's behalf; yet should lovers wish to petition and bring presents to the beloved to relieve pains of alienation for which there is no relief, says the speaker, then they are 'finished' -- in deep and lasting pain as expressed in the mesraa‘ following the hemistich just quoted from Ghazal 5:

may deep anguish follow the heart that wishes a balm for love’s pain!

Finally, dar band-e chizi budan is an idiom which means to be thinking about something or to be intent on something, in this case a remedy; and curious about daar, here 'gallows'  I discovered that the source-word is the Proto Indo-European reconstruction *doru which means tree or wood; and for tree/wood Greek has doru, 'spear' and drûs, 'tree' (from which 'Dryad', wood-nymph, and possibly 'Druid'); Sanskrit, dâru and of course English tree, all cognates.  daar, also tree in Hafez' time as well as  in contemporary Persian. is attested in Old Persian dâru, Avestan dâuru (Roland Kent, Old Persian, American Oriental Society, 1953, p. 190).  Without doing more investigation no other reference to a tree or wood device for hanging was found in this etymological excursion other than in New Persian.  'Gallows' is a 'hanging tree', two upright poles and cross-piece apparatus used for that purpose (Old Norse, gálgatré -- see, Oxford Dictionary of Etymology ed. C.T. Onions).

Hafez, ghazal 174, Khanlari

نه هر که چهره بر افروخت دلبری داند

نه هر که آینه سازد سکندری داند 

نه هر کسی که کله کج نهاد و تند نشست

  کلاه‌داری و آئین سروری داند

تو بندگی چو گدایان به شرط مزد مکن

  که دوست خود روش بنده‌پروری داند

وفای عهد نکو باشد ار بیاموزی

وگرنه هر که تو بینی ستمگری داند

بباختم دل دیوانه و ندانستم

که آدمی‌‌بچه‌ای  شیوهٔ پری داند

غلام همّت آن رند عافیت‌سوزم

که با گداصفتی کیمیاگری داند

هزار نکتهٔ باریکتر ز موی اینجاست

نه هر که سر بتراشد قلندری داند

مدار نقطهٔ بینش ز خال تست مرا

  که قدر گوهر یکدانه جوهری داند

به قدّ و چهره هر آن کس که شاه خوبان شد

جهان بگیرد اگر دادگستری داند

 ز شعر دلکش حافظ کسی بود آگاه

  که لطف نظم و سخن گفتن دری داند 

meter: mojtass

مفاعلن /فعلاتن/ مفاعلن/ فع لن یا فعلن

1 na har ke chehre bar afrukht delbari daanad

   na har ke aayene saazad sakandari daanad

2 na har kasi ke kolah kaj nahaad o tond neshast

   kolaahdaari o aain-e sarvari daanad

3 to bandagi cho gadaayaan be shart-e mozd makon

   ke dust khod ravesh-e bandeparvari daanad

4 vafaa-ye ‘ahd neku baashad ar biyaamuzi

   vagarna har ke to bini setamgari daanad 

5 bebaakhtam del-e divaane o nadaanestam

   ke aadamibachei shive-ye pari daanad

6 gholaam-e hemmat-e aan rend-e ‘aafiyatsuzam

   ke baa gadaasefati kimiyaagari daanad

7 hazaar nokte-ye baariktar ze muy injaast

   na har ke sar betaraashad qalandari daanad

8 madaar-e noqte-ye binesh ze khaal-e tost maraa

   ke qadr-e gowhar-e yakdaane jowhari daanad

9 be qadd o chehre har aan kas ke shaah-e khubaan shod

   jahaan begirad agar daadgostari daanad

10 ze she‘r-e delkash-e haafez kasi bovad aagaah

     ke lotf-e nazm o sokhan goftan-e dari daanad

read left to right for transcripton above: 

mafaa‘elon/fa‘elaaton/mafaa‘elon/fa‘ lon or fa‘elon

or 'classically'

˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ / ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ / ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ / ˉ ˉ or ˘ ˘ ˉ 

Not everyone who makes faces blush knows how to capture hearts,

not every maker of mirrors knows how to be Alexander.

Not everyone who wears his hat this way or that,

and takes his seat with firm command,

knows how to be king

or how to govern.

Do not expect money, like beggars, for your service;

the Friend himself knows how to take care of his servants.

Loyalty in friendship is good,

if you learn it and practice it;

otherwise, look around you

and see disloyalty rampant.

I lost my crazed heart

didn’t know that a human

could possess fairy-charm.

I praise the power of the rend who scorns comforts and conventions;

with the alchemist’s art, he transforms his poverty into richness.

There are thousands of examples and distinctions in what is said here.

And not everyone who shaves his head knows how to be qalandar.

My gaze stops at that beauty mark of yours –

the jeweler knows the value of a one-of-a-kind pearl.

Whoever he is, whose stature and beauty

have made him king of beauties

will rule the world

if he knows how to spread justice.

Awareness of the heart-alluring verses of Hafez

comes to those who know

 the elegance of Persian poetry and language.

Notes: maker of mirrors..., reference to the famous mirror-cup or mirror of Alexander which helped Alexander know the moves of the enemy and other useful information; rend – see note on rend in Ghazal 3 ; qalandari--'qalandar-ness' or 'maifesting the qualities of a qalandar'; a qalandar is an aspirant at a stage on the path of mystic training 

 (translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

This ghazal offers advice by example and by contrast.  Authenticity (by this I mean 'genuineness'), justice and fairness are to be shown not only in acts of authority but  in friendship; those who ignore these qualities, or do not learn and incorporate them, act out of fancy or through image or persona.  With bayt 8 in mind, attention directed to these virtues results in the realization that they are genuine, not imitations and the practice of them requires nothing counterfeit.

In the first two couplets, the speaker gives us examples, which are more than just statements of fact.  They paint images of flights of fancy -- not everyone who has caused others to feel the flush of love, knows love; nor does every mirror-maker possess the qualities of an Alexander the Great.  Both think they possess or may come to possess these skills. We then turn to authority: inattention or over-attention to formality, neither extreme makes for good governance since these are acts of ego.

So the stage is set for pretense and hypocrisy.  Variation but continuation of this theme comes in the 3rd couplet: Hafez seems here to say that looking for rewards for service is itself pretentious: one overlooks what has been offered and the best use of the offerings.  The opportunity comes in cultivating friendship (bayt 4) but with the proviso that the learning and practice of friendship is essential; open your eyes and behold what happens without loyalty is absent.

The fifth couplet is a poetic entr'acte.  I can imagine the delight in the assembly in hearing of the poet's love-crazed heart and the beloved's charm which caught the speaker by surprise.  However much this may seem just a variation, the sentiment is genuine and it is without pretense.  It also prepares us for the rend, who, in contrast to preceding examples, embodies simplicity, lack of pretense.  The rend does not have to go begging for money, for the rend transforms this poverty of simplicity into richness.  In the rend we find no persona, no chasing after conventions that  transforms some mortals into pretenders.  And the qalandar, on the spiritual path, cannot reach the next station in a mystical journey by outward acts, by cosmetics, by assuming a role, a persona.  Hafez acknowledges that there are so many examples and distinctions in all that is said in this ghazal; the role of qalandar is just one of them.

In the next to the last bayt, we return to the ruler, who 'will rule the world' by spreading justice, which should be the sine qua non of rule and authority, not impressive stature, not good looks.  The final couplet tells us that knowing the elegance of poetry and the Persian language will let us know Hafez.  By knowing Hafez may not his audience learn and pratice qualities spoken of in this ghazal?

A few remarks on the translation: Preceding the radif داند /daanad, throughout the ghazal, is the rhyme -ari as in delbari, sakandari, sarvari, bandeparvari, setamgari, and so on. The aforementioned are abstract nouns, which are created by addding the suffix ی/i (the 'definite' accented suffix) to either nouns or adjectives, e.g., sakandar-i, 'alexander-ness', i.e., 'embodying the qualities of Alexander', qalandar-i. 'qalandar-ness' i.e., 'displaying the attributes of qalandar', sarvar-i 'governance or rule, daadgostar-i 'the spreading of justice'.  And there are two words in this 'pre-radif' position which are not abstracts: jowhari, 'jeweller', and dari, 'Persian'. They are derived from nouns, jowhar, 'jewel', dar, 'court' (likely from darbaar).  The ی/i suffix makes them adjectives, 'relational adjectives'; that is, they relate to a thing or a person; when jowhar relates to a person, that person is 'jeweller'.  For dari, the relationship may be to 'court-language', yet in usage it means 'Persian'.  In this context, however, both jowhari and dari function as nouns. Finally,the ی/i of pari is not a suffix but part of the word itself. (For more about Dari, a literary language well-established before Hafez' time, see the article 'Dari' by Gilbert Lazard in Encyclopaedia Iranica.)

in bayt 2, I understand kolah kaj (nehaad) as wearing the hat of authority in a slapdash manner -- consequently not fit to rule -- and tond neshast as sitting down imperiously or with great formality, even contemptuously

in bayt 4, vafaa-ye ‘ahd is a loyalty pledged and kept by both parties -- it is an agreement; and the verb, biyaamuzi 'if you learn it and practice it' -- the verb itself having meanings of 'learn' and 'teach' and in this context it is practicing (teaching) what has been learned.  setamgari - is oppression caused by disloyalty or simply, as here, 'disloyalty'.

bayt 5, aadamibachei, 'a human being'; - bachchei > bachei for the sake of the meter

in bayt 6, hemmat is the manifestation of effort and energy which 'power' suits.  Note that the -am suffixed to ‘aafiyatsuz-am serves as 1st person singular, present tense of budan (hastam); ‘aafiyatsuz, 'convention-burning' is an endocentric or tat-purusha compound; kimiyaagari is alchemy as noted in the translation.  The translation 'poverty into richness' completes the intended meaning of this mesraa‘.

Refer to the note on qalandari just below the translation of this ghazal.

صبا به لطف بگو آن غزال رعنا را

      که سر به کوه و بیابان تو داده‌ای ما را

شکرفروش که عمرش دراز باد  چرا

   تفقدی نکند طوطی شکرخا را

غرور حسن اجازت مگر نداد ای گل

     که پرسشی بکنی عندلیب شیدا را

به خلق و لطف توان کرد صید اهل نظر

    به بند و دام نگیرند مرغ دانا را

ندانم از چه سبب رنگ آشنایی نیست

     سهی‌قدان سیه‌چشم ماه‌سیما را

چو با حبیب نشینی و باده پیمایی

به یاد دار محبان بادپیما را

                          در آسمان نه عجب گر به گفتهٔ حافظ

              سرود زهره به رقص آورد مسیحا را

                        meter: mojtass

 مفاعلن /فعلاتن/ مفاعلن/ فع لن یا فعلن

1 sabaa be lotf begu aan ghazaal-e  ra‘naa  raa

   ke sar be kuh o biyaabaan to daadei  maa  raa

2 shakarforush  ke  ‘omrash deraaz baad cheraa

   tafaqqodi  nakonad  tuti-ye shakarkhaa  raa

3 ghorur-e hosn  ejaazat  magar  nadaad  ey gol

   ke porseshi bekoni ‘andalib-e sheydaa  raa

4 be kholq o lotf tavaan kard seyd-e ahl-e nazar

   be band o daam nagirand morgh-e daanaa  raa

5 nadaanam az che sabab rang-e aashnaa-i nist

   sahiqadaan-e siyahchashm-e maahsimaa  raa

6 cho baa  habib neshini o baade peymaai

   be yaad daar  mohebbaan-e baadpeymaa  raa

7 dar aasmaan  na ‘ajab gar  be  gofte-ye haafez

   sorud-e zohre be raqs aavarad masihaa  raa

  read left to right for transcripton above:

mafaa‘elon/fa‘elaaton/mafaa‘elon/fa‘ lon or fa‘elon

or 'classically'

˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ / ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ / ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ / ˉ ˉ or ˘ ˘ ˉ  

Sabâ, gently tell my lovely gazelle:

‘You have left me stranded in the wilds.’

The sugar-merchant, may his life be long,

why doesn’t he care for

the parrot who consumes sweets?

It was pride of beauty, was it not,

that did not allow you, rose,

to ask about the nightingale,

mad in love with you?

Men of insight can be trapped with kindness and civility --

net or snare will not catch the wise bird.

I don’t know why

there is no sign of friendship

in these beauties -- 

tall statures, dark eyes, fair faces.

When you sit with friends

and share wine,

remember those

who are deprived

and share with no one.

No surprise, if in the heavens,

the music of Venus set to the words of Hafez

brings Jesus to the dance.

note: Venus, zohre, is the celestial musician.  Residing in the 3rd heaven, Jesus in the 4th heaven is her 'neighbor.'

(translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

 Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

Some ghazals of Hafez have unity and for this reason, I chose the reading in the Qazvini text which reveals this unity by the order of the couplets and by the omission of a bayt which Khanlari includes.

جزین قدر نتوان گفت در جمال تو عیب

که وضع مهر و وفا نیست روی زیبارا

 no fault can be spoken of in your beauty apart from this,

namely, no love or fidelity is there to match your face.

Although the couplet is Hafez-like, by its sarcasm it weakens or fails to add to what I feel the ghazal hopes to express, that is, the feeling of sadness stated in the fifth bayt and sadness which continues in the sixth bayt.  The ghazal builds to this point in the first four couplets where the speaker has left his customary life in pursuit of the beloved, apparently to no avail, and then in bayts 2 and 3 reminds the sugar-merchant of his customer and the rose of the nightingale -- a bit playful but the point is made that there is a mutual need which is not being met.  In the fourth bayt kindness and civility are called for: the sad fact in bayt 5 is that there is among beauties no sign of kindness and civility, no sign of friendship.  And in bayt 6, the poet recalls good events among friends and asks for the remembrance of those (the poet included) who sit alone.  The final bayt of course is self-adulatory, charming and is to me a relief from the preceding sadness.

A few remarks about the text and translation: I subscribe to the policy of 'no filler words' in Hafez, and discussion of this ghazal made it clear that تو/to,'you' in the 2nd mesraa‘ was emphatic, YOU drove me .../ left me...;in the 4th bayt, اهل نظر may also have the meaning of 'judges/experts of beauty' which may be more to the point in this bayt than 'men of insight'; in the sixth bayt, the viewer will have noticed word-play which cannot be captured in English.  The second mesraa‘ of this bayt - 'be mindful of friends measuring the wind' - be yaad daar mohebbaan-e baadpeymaa raa tells us that they are doing the impossible, but the 'impossibility' here is not finding it possible to be with friends or being deprived of friends rather than doing what is without meaning or in vain or useless which are other meanings of baad peymaa.

Hafez, ghazal 461, Khanari and ordered according to noskhe-ye lam (Qazvini-Ghani edition)

سینه مالامال درد است ای دریغا مرهمی

        دل ز تنهایی به جان آمد خدا را همدمی

چشم آسایش که دارد از سپهر تیزرو

              ساقیا جامی به من ده تا بیاسایم دمی

زیرکی را گفتم این احوال بین خندید و گفت

       صعب روزی بو العجب کاری پریشان عالمی

سوختم در چاه صبر از بهر آن شمع چگل

          شاه ترکان فارغ است از حال ما کو رستمی

در طریق عشق‌بازی امن و آسایش بلاست

         ریش باد آن دل که با درد تو خواهد مرهمی

اهل کام و ناز را در کوی رندی راه نیست

        رهروی باید جهان‌سوزی نه خامی بیغمی

آدمی در عالم خاکی نمی آید به دست

             عالمی دیگر بباید ساخت وز نو آدمی

خیز تا خاطر بدان ترک سمرقندی دهیم

           کز نسیمش بوی جوی مولیان آید همی

        گریهٔ حافظ چه سنجد پیش استغنای عشق

      کاندرین طوفان نماید هفت دریا شبنمی

 meter: ramal (mahzuf)

فاعلاتن/فاعلاتن/فاعلاتن/فاعلن 

1 sine  maalaamaal-e dardast ey darighaa  marhami

   del ze  tanhaai  be  jaan  aamad  khodaa  raa  hamdami

2 chashm aasaayesh ke daarad az sepehr-e  tizrow

   saaqiyaa jaami be  man  deh  taa  biyaasaayam  dami

3 ziraki  raa  goftam in ahvaal  bin  khandid o goft

  sa‘b  ruzi  bul‘ajab  kaari  parishaan  ‘aalami

4 sukhtam dar chaah-e sabr az bahr-e aan sham‘-e chegel

   shaah-e torkaan faaregh ast az haal-e  maa  ku rostami

5 dar tariq-e ‘eshqbaazi amn o aasaayesh balaast

   rish baad aan del  ke baa  dard-e to  khaahad marhami

6 ahl-e kaam o naaz  raa  dar ku-ye  rendi  raah nist

    rahrowi  baayad  jahaansuzi  na  khaami  bighami

7 aadami dar ‘aalam-e khaaki nemi aayad  be  dast

  ‘aalami digar bebaayad saakht vaz now aadami

8 khiz  taa  khaater  bedaan tork-e samarqandi  dehim

   kaz  nasimash bu-ye ju-ye muliyaan aayed hami

9 gerye-ye haafez che sanjad pish-e esteghnaa-ye ‘eshq

   kandarin tufaan  nomaayad  haft  daryaa  shabnami

  read left to right for transcripton above:

faa‘elaaton/faa‘elaaton/faa‘elaaton/ faa‘elon

or 'classically'

 ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ /  ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ/ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ/  ˉ ˘ ˉ  

Chest is in so much pain – and no salve to sooth it!

Heart is dying from loneliness– if only a companion!

Who hopes for repose under these revolving skies?

Saqi, give me a cup of wine

that I may have a moment’s peace.

I asked a wise old hand: ‘Look at these events!’

There was a laugh and then the reply: ‘Difficult times,

strange goings-on, topsy-turvy world.’

I wasted away in the deep pit of patience

for that flame from Chegel:

Afrasiyab does not care about my plight – where is a Rostam?*

In love, safety and peace are hazards:

may deep anguish follow the heart

that wishes a balm for love’s pain!

The pleasure-seekers and the coy

will not go where rends live:

travelers there must give up worldly bondage;

pain-free novices are not allowed.

Humanity is not found here;

another world must be built – and a new human as well.

Rise now and give your heart to that Turk from Samarqand,

whose breeze ‘ever brings the perfume sweet of Muliyân’s stream.’

Hafez’s tears, their presence before the Richness of Love?

In this storm, the seven oceans are like a single dewdrop.

Notes: * the allusion is to the story, told in Shahnameh, of Bizhan and Manizheh, daughter of Afrasiyab, king of Turan (here, شاه ترکان - shaah-e torkaan).  Bizhan had come from Iran, wooed Manizheh but was discovered in her chambers.  Afrasiyab had him condemned to the gallows but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment in a pit covered by a huge stone.  Manizheh managed, however, to make a small opening by the stone in which she could pass Bizhan scraps of food.  When Bizhan’s fate reached Iranian ears, the great hero, Rostam, was sent to deliver Bizhan from his fate.  ‘Chegel’ is the name of the territory in central Asia whose Turkish inhabitants were known for their beauty.

See the note on rend in ghazal 3

(Translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

 Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

The order of the bayts is taken from the MS 'lam' which is the basis of the 1941 Qazvini-Ghani edition of Hafez.   Bayt 8 in lam becomes bayt 3 in Khanlari, and this is the only modification of Khanlari's in the order of the couplets.  I prefer the Qazvini-Ghani edition, and feel that the sentiment,

Rise now and give your heart to that Turk from Samarqand,

whose breeze ‘ever brings the perfume sweet of Muliyân’s stream.’

is better placed before the last couplet.  This is only an opinion, but I like this positioning of the couplet within the ghazal .  Viewers will recognize Rudaki's famous poem on the emir's return to Bukhara  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukhara) in the second mesraa' of this couplet and see the quote 'ever brings the perfume sweet of Muliyân's stream' which I have taken from A.V.W Jackson's first line of his translation, titled The Prince is to Return to Bukhara:

The perfume sweet of Muliyan's stream come aye to me;

Remembrance, too, of longed-for friends comes aye to me.

بوی جوی مولیان آید همی  

یاد یار مهربان آید همی

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudaki
Stamp depicts Rudaki on the 1100th anniversary of his birth (born c. 958 C.E.)   

The first mesraa‘ of this ghazal presents two contrasting elements: the pain of love (dard) and relief (marham) for the pain of love.  As the viewer has seen, these elements occur throughout the ghazal. 

There were two misconceptions or difficulties I encountered with the Persian in preparing this rendition:  1) in bayt 2, first mesraa‘, it was tempting to fall into the trap of modernizing (and mistranslating) by saying 'who has hope of peace in a fast-paced world'; whereas az sepehr-e tizrow approximates 'day in, day out' or as above, 'revolving skies.' 2) I missed the allusion, as others might as well, to Afrasiyab and first translated shaah-e torkaan, as 'Turkish king.'

Some other comments: for ziraki, the expression 'a wise old hand'  suits someone who knows, someone wise and experienced but who does not assume the role or give the appearance of a wise and experienced person. Viewers will see that I am avoiding gender -- care should be taken in this matter.  In bayt 4, the note explains the allusion; 'flame of Chegel' is more recognizable to an English reader than the literal 'candle of Chegel'. 'Flame' for a loved one, is, I admit, old-fashioned, but it works.  I chose 'wasted away' rather than 'was consumed' or 'burned up' for sukhtam but 'wasted away/suffered in the fire of passion' would capture both meanings and perhaps even describe the speaker's fate as well as Bizhan's.  In the fifth bayt, 2nd mesraa‘, I understand 'deep and lasting anguish' for rish; the person who fancies a safe-haven or stopping-place or a soothing remedy for love, love which is ever-changing, ever-moving, will be cursed with lasting anguish. 'Worldy bondage' -- I remembered a Buddhist passage -- it seems appropriate for this context.  In bayt 7, first mesraa‘, for aadami I chose 'humanity'; it is the abstract but serves well for both human beings and the abstract ideal; aadami in the 2nd mesraa‘ is the indefinite 'a (new) human' and not the abstract 'humanity' on analogy with hamdami ... shabnami, the 'indefinite' which occurs in the -ami rhyme) of each bayt of this ghazal.  I revised the final bayt, first mesraa‘, dissatisfied with 'Hafez' tears what do they mean/amount to/what are they...' and believe what I now have written has more force and elegance. And in the final mesraa‘, 'lam' reads:

کندرین  دریا  نماید هفت دریا شبنمی

I take the reading in Khanlari and other MSS of tufaan which avoids repetition of daryaa in this line and is more characteristic of ‘eshq especially as 'love' presents itself in this ghazal.

              دو یار نازک و از بادهٔ کهن دو منی

              فراغتی و کتابی و گوشهٔ چمنی

من این مقام به دنیا و آخرت ندهم

              اگرچه در پی‏ام افتند هردم انجمنی

که هر که کنج قناعت به گنج دنیا داد

           فروخت یوسف مصر‏ی به کمترین ثمنی

بیا که فسحت این کارخانه کم نشود

 به زهد همچو توئی یا به فسق همچو منی

ببین در آینهٔ جام نقش‌بند‌ی غیب

                که کس به یاد ندارد چنین عجب زمنی

ز تند‏باد حوادث نمیتوان دیدن

                  دراین چمن که گلی بوده است یا سمنی

از این سَموم که بر طرف بوستان بگذشت

      عجب که بوی گلی هست و رنگ یاسمنی

به صبر کوش تو ای دل که حق رها نکند

     چنین عزیز نگینی به دست اهرمنی

                                           مزاج دهر تبه شد درین بلا حافظ

                                        کجاست فکر حکیمی و رای برهمنی 

                               meter: mojtass (mahzuf)

           مفاعلن/ فعلاتن / مفاعلن / فع لن یا فعلن

1 do yaar-e naazok o az baade-ye kohan do mani

   faraaghati yo ketaabi yo gushe-ye chamani

2 man in maqaam be donyaa o aakherat nadeham

   agar che dar pey-am oftand har dam anjomani

3 ke har ke konj-e qanaa‘at be ganj-e donyaa daad

   forukht yusof-e mesri be kamtarin samani

4 biyaa ke foshat-e in kaarkhaane kam nashavad

   be zohd-e hamcho toi yaa be fesq-e hamcho mani

5 bebin dar aayene-ye jaam naqshbandi-ye gheyb

    ke kas be yaad nadaarad chonin ‘ajab zamani

6 ze tondbaad-e havaades nemitavaan didan

   dar in chaman ke goli bude ast yaa samani

7 az in samum ke bar tarf-e bustaan begozasht

  ‘ajab ke bu-ye goli hast o rang-e yaasamani

8 be sabr kush to ey del ke haq rahaa nakonad

   chonin ‘aziz negini be dast-e ahremani

9 mezaaj-e dahr tabah shod dar in balaa haafez

   kojaast fekr-e  hakimi yo raay-e barhamani

                                         read left to right for transcripton above:

mafaa‘elon/fa‘elaaton/mafaa‘elon/fa‘lon or fa‘elon

or 'classically'

˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ / ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ / ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ / ˉ ˉ or ˘ ˘ ˉ  

Two sweethearts gentle and witty,

and vintage wine - two gallons -

time that’s free from care, a book,

and corner-spot on the green …  

Such pursuits I will not give up for this world or the next

’tho the pack nips at my heels every moment of the day.

Whoever gave up contentment’s corner for the treasures of the world

sold Egypt’s Joseph, bottom price pleased him well.

So come now:

the events in this world will not be changed one bit

by the ascetic life like yours

or the wayward life like mine.

See in the mirror of the wine-cup patterns shaped by the Unseen,

no one remembers such a startling time.

And from the windstorm of events

       on this green no one can find

              if once there was a rose and once the jasmine grew.

The gardens which scorching winds in their passing sifted through…

strange how any fragrance of the rose remains,

or in the jasmine any color.

Try to be patient, my heart –

God will not let such a precious signet-ring

slip into the hands of some devil.

The health of the world is in sad shape by these troubles, Hafez.

  Where is wisdom from the wise,

      the discernment of a Brahmin?

(translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

 Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation: 

I'm sure I will not be alone if I say that the lesânolgheyb, Hafez, the Tongue of the Unseen and Translator of Mysteries is writing about modern times, not just in the first four khayyâm-like couplets, but in the unsettling final five bayts.

The translation should be easy to follow for this entire ghazal: at first, the wish for companions, wine, leisure, book, spot on the green:

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread -- and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness --

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

FitzGerald, stanza 12, 4th ed.

And not bowing to pressure to surrender contentment for this world or what lies after; the real wealth lies in contentment, and whoever gave (gives) this up to seek fortune in the world is the sort of person who did (does) not recognize the treasure in Joseph and sold (sells) him off at the lowest price.  The speaker concludes by saying in the fourth couplet: 'face up to it: your piety (and probably your judgment about my profligacy) and my abandoing the straight-and-narrow path make no difference -- the world will continue as it is.' Then in bayt 5, we have a change with a vision, insight or dream of the poet of the startling and unhealthy state of the time, of the world.  The 8th bayt is a reference to the signet-ring of Solomon (Pers. Soleymân), who, according to some of the many Solomon-legends, was said to have a ring which gave him certain powers; Solomon lost this ring to a devil and consequently lost his throne and kingdom which he eventually got back when the ring was recovered (see below).  This bayt suggests that this power and much-needed wisdom by God's protection will not fall into the wrong hands. The final couplet summarizes world condition and the hope of that wisdom to come from someone wise perhaps at home or even from  the East, where spiritual guidance and wisdom were often sought.

Remarks on the translation: in the very first mesraa‘, naazok as 'gentle and witty' combines Khanlari's reading of naazok ('gentle', 'delightful') with Qazvini's zirak ('witty', 'savvy'); mani is indefinite, 'about two gallons.' The man is a unit of measure -- see Quatrain 22 in this site; also in Quatrain 22 you will find poems which influenced FitzGerald; they bear resemblance to this first bayt of Hafez in expression and language (the use of indefinites, that is, the normally unaccented ی/i suffix).  Couplets like these which denote a happy and carefree time may have been proverbial and may have had popular origin, possibly in existence in early Persian culture and poetry. chamani is a spot of green, not just a lush meadow but more likely a patch of green by a village or settlement, an oasis to dwellers and travellers in a mountainous and arid country.

Note that indefinite nouns run throughout this ghazal, especially as the mani rhyme.

In bayt 2, anjomani seems more to suit 'the crowd' than any sort of gathering

In bayt 3, به کمترین ثمنی/be kamtarin samani means 'at a price, however small'; of the several epithets of Joseph, mesri in this passage symbolizes Egypt's great gain; the wealth is at hand in contentment (Joseph at home in Canaan) but in pursuing what this world has to offer, this wealth-at-hand is sold for a song, lost, exported to Egypt. 

In bayt 4, فسحت این کارخانه/foshat-e in kaarkhaane -- kaarkhaane is a place of activity, like a workshop, factory, and so, the world; foshat has the sense of spaciousness, fullness and  I am told even 'emotional fulfillment' and 'events' is a workable choice for what happens in the world and how we view and contend with these matters. fesq is 'a departure', 'leaving the path', going off on one's own; toi and mani are indefinites, '(like) a you or a me'.

In bayt 7, سَموم/samum, a hot and oppressive wind rather than somum, poisons (plural of samm), though the latter suits the context as well.

In bayt 8, ahrimani, an Ahriman (Ahriman was the evil spirit in Zoroastrian dualism; the good represented by Ahura Mazdâ.  Ahriman symbolizes greed, wrath and envy and created a host of devils with those qualities.  Ahura Mazdâ is to triumph in the end).

Solomon's signet-ring: we do not have this ring story in the Qur'an but we do find in the Qur'an that Solomon was granted command of devils to do his bidding.  We know also that a 'mere body' occupied his throne after he was 'tested'; Solomon repented and got his kingdom returned to him (Qur'an 38.35-35, 40).  Jewish tradition ascribes the power of ruling the many satans to the ring. In certain accounts, supernatural powers which Solomon possessed were attributed to his ring (for the many stories about Solomon, see First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Brill, 7.519-520; also Legends of the Jews, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 4.150, 153, 160, 162, 171-172).

Bayt 9: مزاج /mezaaj --a medical term for the constitution or temperament of a body brought about by the mixing of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water with the four humors, blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile; a sound body will have balanced mixtures; here the temperament is tabah, 'not in arrangement' that is, out of balance (see Manfred Ullmann, Islamic Medicine, Edinburgh University Press, 1997, 56-60).

'the discernment of a Brahmin' -- Brahmins were originally priests who were keepers of prayers and ritual; either that sort of Brahmin is sought here or a member of that upper caste of Brahmins, who by origin and elevation were considered discerning and wise.

زان یار دل‌نوازم شکریست با  شکایت

             گر نکته‌دان عشقی خوش بشنو این حکایت

بی مزد بود و منّت هر خدمتی که کردم

             یا رب مباد کس را مخدوم بی عنایت

رندان تشنه‌لب را جامی نمیدهد کس

                  گوئی ولی‌شناسان رفتند ازین ولایت

هر چند بردی آبم روی از درت نتابم

                جور از حبیب خوشتر کز مدّعی رعایت

در زلف چون کمندش ای دل مپیچ کانجا 

      سرها بریده بینی بی جرم و بی جنایت

چشمت به غمزه ما را خون خورد و میپسندی

    جانا روا نباشد خون‌ریز را حمایت

دراین شب سیاهم گم گشت راه مقصود

            از گوشه‌ای برون آی ای کوکب هدایت

از هر طرف که رفتم جز وحشتم نیفزود

          زنهار ازین بیابان وین راه بی نهایت 

این راه را نهایت صورت کجا توان بست

          کش صد هزار منزل بیش است در بدایت

   عشقت رسد به فریاد ور خود بسان حاقظ

 قرآن ز بر بخوانی در چارده روایت

                         meter: mozaare‘ 

                   مفعولُ/ فاعلاتن/مفعولُ/فاعلاتن

1 zaan yaar-e delnavaazam shokrist baa shekaayat

   gar noktedaan-e ‘eshqi khosh beshnow in hekaayat

2 bi mozd bud o mennat har khedmati ke kardam

   yaa rab mabaad kas raa makhdum-e  bi ‘enaayat

3 rendaan-e teshnelab raa jaami namidehad kas

   gui valishenaasaan raftand azin velaayat

4 har chand bordi aabam ruy az darat nataabam

   jowr az habib khoshtar kaz modda‘i  re‘aayat

5 dar zolf chon kamandash ey del mapich kaanjaa

   sarhaa boride bini bi jorm o bi jenaayat

6 chashmat be ghamze maa raa khun khord o mipasandi

   jaanaa ravaa nabaashad khunriz raa hemaayat

7 dar in shab-e siyaaham gom gasht raah-e maqsud

   az gushei berun aay ey kowkab-e hedaayat

8 az har taraf ke raftam joz vahshatam nayafzud

   zenhaar azin biyaabaan vin raah-e bi nehaayat

9 in raah raa nehaayat surat kojaa tavaan bast

   kash sad hazaar manzel bishast dar bedaayat

10 ‘eshqat rasad be faryaad var khod besaan-e hafez

     qoraan ze bar bekhaani dar chaardah revaayat

read left to right for transcription above:

maf ‘ulo/faa‘elaaton/maf ‘ulo/faa‘elaaton

and 'classically'

ˉ ˉ ˘ / ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ /  ˉ ˉ ˘ /  ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ

For that dear love of mine

I am grateful but have a complaint,

If you know all the fine points of love,

listen well to what I have to say:

I asked for nothing,

I gave freely …

my Lord, may no one

be courted without love and care.

Will no one give a thirsty rend* a drink?

It just may be

those who know God’s friends have left town.

Although you dishonored me,

never will I turn from your door:

a lover’s treachery

is better than a pretender’s patronage.

Heart, stay out of those noose-like tresses;

just look at the heads lopped-off

and no crime done, no outrage!

A glance from your eyes

                and you drain my blood from me

                                and you approve of this blood-letting!

                                                My dear,

                                                                you have no defense to offer.

In this black night

I have lost my bearings,

O star above to guide me,

                won’t you come out of hiding?

Wherever I turned

                wherever I went

                                nothing but my fear.

Look out for the wasteland

and the road without end!

How to imagine where this road ends

when the road begins with so many thousands of steps.

Only love will help you-- 

even if, like Hafez,

you recite the Qur’an in fourteen styles.

Notes:*rend is difficult, maybe impossible, to translate.  Rend was a pejorative term, a dissolute person, debauchee, a ‘rough customer,’ one who opposed paying court to the conventions of society. So often in the ghazals Hafez' 'rend’ mocks the pretentious and hypocritical.  By his freedom from pretence, we may admire the rend as someone honest and sincere. You may wish to think of the rend as a character you like or dislike, someone baffling, a person of conviction and courage, someone that you feel is not easy to get to know.  For detail and references in the ghazals, see under ‘Hafez’ in Encyclopaedia Iranica, especially articles by Lewis and Yarshater.

 (translated from the Persian text above -- BR)

 Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

In the opening two couplets, the first reminiscent of the first bayt of Rumi’s Masnavi: “Now listen to this reed-flute’s deep lament/About the heartache being torn apart has meant” (Rumi, The Masnavi, Book One, tr. Jawid Mojaddedi, OUP, 2004), the speaker addresses an unspecified but knowledgeable-about-love ‘you,’; and the 3^rd bayt disengages from this address to reflect, perhaps on unrequited love, or from the lack of reciprocity towards those who love and care deeply for others: no one will give thirsty rends a drink (and the likelihood that even friends of God have left town).  In bayt 4, the speaker now addresses a second 'you', the beloved, perhaps the object of the above complaint, and shows determination in spite of humiliations, by reminding the beloved that the speaker can bear up with these conditions; they are preferable to the pretense of rivals.  In bayt 5, what a peril the heart faces if caught in the beloved’s tresses – it is a capital offence without benefit of trial! More of the same danger lies waiting in bayt 6 and the beloved even condones what is impermissible .  Apparently the ‘you’ of the opening two bayts is not turned to again unless it is in the final bayt which does address a ‘you’ to offer advice, perhaps, on where help lies, and that is with love, and only love, in the midst of these difficulties and dark nights, endless roads, protracted beginnings, trackless lands and nothing but fear (couplets 7-9).

There is unity throughout this ghazal through the drama of the speaker’s continuing struggle in bearing up under the beloved's cruel rejection coupled with what appears in couplets 7-9 to be the abandonment of hope. And if the focus of this ghazal has been unrequited love that leads to the loss of direction and consequential fear of not finding the way back, equally ‘central’ is the idea that only love will offer help.  Hafez often says in the ghazals that there is no remedy for the pain of love and even those who seek a cure are finished – it’s over for them.  The ‘help’ that love brings here is not a remedy for pain but, in my opinion, Hafez is expressing a mystical notion that union with the beloved can only be achieved through love even when the suffering is overwhelming. Nothing else will do.  

A few remarks about some words and phrases: in bayt 3, ولی / vali , I understand as ولی الله, friend of God

In bayt 4, آب  / aab = آبرو  that is, the esteem, dignity, honor, veneration that individuals, families or groups have in the eyes of others (quashed by ‘تو’/to/you -- the beloved)

bayt 8,  (وحشت(م / vahshat means fear; the suffix -am is like مرا /maraa: for me, nothing is gained but fear or we could see it as a thematic subject - I have got nothing but fear; Hafez will attach pronominal suffixes where he wishes, for metric and poetic reasons, they are 'free-floating'; similarly in bayt 8: not in this dark night of mine but in this dark night I have lost the journey's destination.

bayt 9, صورت کجا توان بست/surat kojaa tavaan bast: where/how is it (something) conceivable and in the second mesraa‘ when there are more than 100,000 steps (stages) in the beginning of it  (the ‘it’ refers to the road contained in the 3^rd person pronominal suffix –ash – ke +ash = kash/کش.  

bayt 10, ور - means and even if as اگر can mean although or even if; و has emphatic force in Persian which even if by itself conveys in English unless we would wish to say with an emphatic redundancy, only love can help you ... and only love, even if ...

In conclusion, something about the meter of this ghazal:  for those who are interested and would like to know more about Persian meters, the two works listed below will be helpful, although the comprehensive and useful study of Finn Thiesen is difficult to find and is out of print.  I am providing a link to Elwell-Sutton's article on prosody in Encyclopaedia Iranica.

The meter of this ghazal, as noted, is mozaare‘ and it is a variety of that meter (different from the mozaare‘ in ghazal 2 on this site) in which there is repetition in the second half of each mesraa‘ of two distinct metrical patterns* in the first half.  This is called a double meter (see Elwell-Sutton, The Persian Metres, p. 88, and also, Thiesen,  A Manual of Persian Prosody, paragraphs 240 for mozaare‘ and 186-188 (see site-bibliography for both).  Doubled meters are considered rare.  Note throughout the ghazal the break or caesura (‘cutting off’/division) at the end of both word and metrical unit in the first half of the mesraa‘ and I am assuming there can be a pause here in recitation:

(right to left)

ˉ  ˉ ˘ ˉ / ˘ ˉ ˉ //  ˉ  ˉ ˘ ˉ/  ˘ ˉ ˉ 

زان  یارِِ ِ دل‏نوازم //  شکریست با  شکایت

 * two distinct metrical patterns -- It appears that two distinct metrical patterns in each half of the mesraa‘ are requirements for double meters; sâlem or sound meters like motaqaareb, hazaj, ramal and rajaz display repetition but patterns are uniform and even a meter like a rajaz which is derived from a sâlem meter, namely the first mesraa‘  of Rumi's well-known ghazal below (37, Foruzânfar), although it is repetitive it is apparently not considered a double meter.  Is this because its metrical units are uniform and not distinct? Could a syntactic pause play a role in defining double meters?  See Thiesen, paragraph 215, who does not call the meter 'double': 

یار مرا غار مرا // عشق جگ‏ر‏خوار مرا

yaar maraa ghaar maraa // ‘eshq-e jegarkhaar maraa 

A friend is mine. A cave is mine.  A heart-consuming love is mine.

حاشا  که من  به موسم گل ترک می کنم

     من  لاف  عقل  میزنم این  کار کی کنم

مطرب کجاست تا همه محصول زهد و علم

         در کار چنگ و بربط و آواز نی کنم

از قال و قیل مدرسه حالی دلم گرفت

               یک چند نیز خدمت معشوق و می کنم

کو پیک صبح تا گله‌ های شب فراق

                با آن خجسته‌طلعت فرخند‌ه‌پی  کنم

کی بود در زمانه وفا جام می بیار

                  تا من حکایت جم و کاووس ‌کی کنم

از نامهٔ سیاه نترسم که روز حشر

                 با فیض لطف او صد از این نامه طی کنم

           این جان عاریت که به حافظ سپرد دوست

  روزی رخش ببینم و تسلیم وی کنم

meter: mozâre‘ (mahzuf)

مفعولُ/ فاعلاتُ /  مفاعیلُ / فاعلن

1 haashaa ke man be mowsem-e gol tark-e mey konam

   man laaf-e ‘aql mizanam in kaar key konam

2 motreb kojaast taa hame mahsul-e zohd o ‘elm

   dar kaar-e chang o barbat o aavaaz-e ney konam

3 az qaal o qil-e madrase haali delam gereft

   yak chand niz khedmat-e ma‘shuq o mey konam

4 ku peyk-e sobh taa gelehaa-ye shab-e faraaq

   baa aan khojastetal‘at-e farkhondepey konam

5 key bud dar zamaane vafaa jaam-e mey biyaar

   taa man hekaayat-e jam o kaavus-e key konam

6 az naame-ye siyaah natarsam ke ruz-e hashr

   baa feyz-e lotf-e u sad az in naame tey konam

7 in jaan-e ‘aariyat ke be haafez sepord dust

   ruzi rokhash bebinam o taslim-e vey konam

Read left to right for transcripton above:

                       maf ‘ulo / faa‘elaato / mafaa‘ilo / faa‘elon 

and 'classically'

      ˉ ˉ ˘ / ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ /  ˘ ˉ ˉ ˘ /  ˉ ˘ ˉ

God forbid

          in the season of the rose

                    I renounce wine?!

                                      I boast of my power to reason,

                                         I won't do this!

Where are the musicians

          that I trade the whole harvest of my asceticism and piety

                   for the melodies of harp, lute and flute?

Sick at heart of the give and take of schoolroom debate,

                   just … for a little while …

                                      let me give myself to the beloved and to wine.

Where is that dawn-messenger,

          to hear my complaints of nights of separation,

                   whose beauty brings good tidings

whose entrance good fortune?

When was life faithful?

                   Bring a cup of wine

                             and let me tell the story of Jamshid and Key Kavus.

Blemishes on my record book?  I do not fear them:

          on the day of judgment,

                   by his abundant grace and favor,

                             I shall pass by hundreds of these records.

This lent-to-me soul of mine

          that God gave me for my keeping

                   one day I shall see his face

                             and give it back to him.

Notes: The barbat is a lute, see 'barbat' on linked page in Encyclopaedia Iranica.  In Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, The Book of Kings, the Persian national epic, Jamshid and Key Kavus are two mythological kings who, along with other dynasts, established Persian cultural and historical greatness.  Another side of the mythology is that, notwithstanding Jamshid and Key Kavus’s role and as much as they are alive today in Persian hearts and culture, neither could survive death and their lives as recorded in the Shahnameh attest to the vicissitudes of fortune.

 (translated from the Persian text above with slight modification -- BR)

 Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

Could Hafez in this ghazal be referring to an earlier traditional path he knows and has once taken: one that embraced asceticism and piety?  If so, the opening three couplets, along with the suggestion of an earlier path, signal a release from that grip, forcefully and defiantly, now ready to trade this previous harvest for music.  It is amusing: imagine, say, a farmer willing to barter all of his season’s harvest for a few days of music in the town.  It is also courageous and human; many of us will recognize a graduation and progress in a new direction, perhaps with more understanding of what we now desire.  And the wish may be quite simple.

In the 2^nd mesraa‘ of the 3^rd couplet, right now the speaker wants to enjoy a little time with the beloved and wine.  Although there will be inevitable nights of separation, the dawn of a new day, maybe the bâd-e sabâ or an unexpected guest will arrive as messenger to offer consolation by an august, healing presence.

Just as we meet with holding dear the pleasures of the day in this site’s Ghazal 1, with a sentiment also characteristic of Khayyâm, we come in bayt 5 to what I regard as the center or focus of this ghazal.  In this transient world, the immediacy, the “nowness” of the pleasure of the beloved and wine is justified: not even the great Persian kings were exempt from the depredations of time and fortune.  Why should lesser mortals worry over their choices? 

In the concluding 2 couplets, the speaker says that his life, even with its blemishes, will not, by the abundancies ‘of his grace and favor,’ be judged and that he will pass with flying colors.  Arrogant of the poet to say this?  Or is it confidence in the path he has taken?  From the final mesraa‘, the latter is likely.

Some thoughts about text and translation: I have departed from Khanlari in favor of the Qazvini reading in the 2^nd mesraa‘ of the second bayt.  Khanlari’s text reads: dar kaar-e baang-e barbat …; in the 2^nd mesraa‘ of the fifth bayt, Khanlari has: kaavus o key konam.

There is a remarkable contrast in the opening of this ghazal with the conclusion: prohibition, “God forbid” with acceptance in the final bayt.  The first bayt must be read aloud with emphasis, which continues in the 2^nd, slows a bit in the first hemistich of the 3^rd bayt at delam gereft  as if to prepare for a slower and measured, yet determined expression of wish.  man laafe-e ‘aql mizanam…‘aql  is the ability to reason, to consider all the angles of an argument or proposition; having done so in this case, it’s not unreasonable to conclude: “I won’t do this!”  We are prepared to learn what the speaker will do in bayt 3.  ‘elm in conjunction with zohd  is the practice of pious behaviors also modeled and sharpened in classroom debate.

In bayt 4, mentioned above, two examples of Persian compound adjectives (exocentric or bahuvrihi compounds), attributes of the dawn-messenger, occur in khojastetal‘at (having an auspicious appearance) and farkhondepey (having an auspicious foot/step-in or entrance).

Viewers are referred to the translation notes on Jamshid and Key Kavus/Kavus Key.

The naame-ye siyaah (bayt 6) is a record book which dutifully registers sinners and all their sinful actions ("blemishes") and will be presented on Judgment Day, ruz-e hashr.

      Visitors are to note that the bayts or couplets are numbered in the transcriptions.  This was done especially for the non-Persian reader and for reference.  A bayt or couplet consists of two 'half-lines'; a half-line is known as a  mesraa‘ or hemistich.  Traditionally, the two mesraa‘s are placed side by side with an intervening space between them to form a couplet in one line.  I had problems with this method so the mesraa‘ - after - mesraa‘  layout which you see was adopted.

      To repeat here what I said in 'About this Site' in the horizontal menu bar, I wish to express gratitude to Dr. Hossein Same'i who has steered me away from writing what is not in Hafez and who has shed light on passages that were obscure to me.  Dr. Same'i is not responsible for my renderings of Hafez into English, but he has been a helpful and necessary collaborator in 'talking these poems into English.'

     I have given the Persian from the Khanlari edition and a transcription follows.  Meters are identified.  Next is my rendition of the ghazal and finally a section which will be called ‘ Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation.’  This last is a brief discussion of the ghazal with a few notes on the text.  I hope it reflects some of the difficulties I encountered as well as the pleasures of a rendering that finally achieved fluency. I have thought that I should begin each paragraph, even each sentence of my comments, with 'it seems to me'/ 'perhaps' /'it may be that'/'in my opinion'... I resist the urge to do much of this kind of thing -- it would be tedious repetition.  But visitors need to be aware that I am giving my opinions and speak as an amateur yet wish to record my thoughts about each ghazal. 

     I need not mention my shortcomings as a Hafez-translator or anybody else’s inadequacies. On this matter I refer the viewer to Dick Davis’ excellent article ‘On Not Translating Hafez’ in the New England Review, vol. 25, #1&2 (2004): http://www.nereview.com/25-1-2/Contents-doubleissue.htm.  I do enjoy  trying, however, and take heart in the comments of David Shulman in the Preface to his 2009 Spring, Heat, Rains: A South Indian Diary: 'Such effects [the powerful and complex musicality of classical Telugu poetry] defy translation, yet I have spent no small part of my life, together with Velcheru Narayana Rao, in the quixotic attempt to translate Telugu poems into English and Hebrew.'

Hafez, ghazal 160, Khanlari  

نفس باد صبا  مشک‌فشان خواهد شد

          عالم پیر دگر باره جوان خواهد شد

ارغوان جام عقیقی به سمن خواهد داد

           چشم  نرگس به  شقایق نگران خواهد شد

این  تطاول که کشید از غم هجران بلبل

          تا سراپردۀ گل  نعره‌زنان خواهد شد

گر ز مسجد به  خرابات  شدم  خرده مگیر

       مجلس وعظ  درازست و زمان خواهد شد

ای دل ار عشرت امروز به فردا  فکنی

         مایهٔ  نقد  بقا را  که  ضمان خواهد شد

ماه شعبان مده از دست قدح  کاین خورشید

      از نظر تا  شب  عید  رمضان خواهد شد

گل عزیزست غنیمت  شمریدش  صحبت

          که به باغ  آمد  ازین راه و  ازان خواهد شد

مطربا مجلس انس است غزل خوان و سرود

   چند گویی که چنین رفت و چنان خواهد شد

                                          حافظ از بهر تو سوی اقلیم وجود

                                   قدمی نه به وداعش که روان خواهد شد

  meter: ramal (mahzuf)

                         فاعلاتن یا فعلاتن /  فعلاتن / فعلاتن/فع لن یا فعلن

1 nafas-e baad-e sabaa moshkfashaan khaahad shod

   ‘aalam-e pir degar baare javaan khaahad shod

2 arghavaan jaam-e ‘aqiqi be saman khaahad daad

   chashm-e narges be shaqaayeq negaraan khaahad shod

3 in tataavol ke kashid az gham-e hejraan bolbol

   taa saraaparde-ye gol na‘rezanaan khaahad shod

4 gar ze masjed be kharaabaat shodam khorde magir

    majles va‘z deraazast o zamaan khaahad shod

5 ey del ar ‘eshrat-e emruz be fardaa fakani

   maaye-ye naqd-e baqaa raa ke zamaan khaahad shod

6 maah-e sha‘baan madeh az dast qadah kin khorshid

   az nazar taa shab-e ‘id-e ramazaan khaahad shod

7 gol ‘azizast ghanimat shomaridash sohbat

   ke be baagh aamad azin raah o azaan khaahad shod

8 motrebaa majles-e onsast ghazal khaan o sorud

   chand gui ke chonin raft o chonaan khaahad shod

9 haafez az bahr-e to aamad su-ye eqlim-e vojud

  qadami neh be vadaa‘ash ke ravaan khaahad shod

                                       read left to right for transcripton above:

                                   faa‘elaaton or fa‘elaaton/fa‘elaaton/fa‘elaaton/fa‘ lon or fa‘elon

and 'classically'

                                      ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ   or ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ  / ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ /  ˘ ˘ ˉ ˉ /  ˉ ˉ   or  ˘ ˘ ˉ

The breath of Bâd-e Saba

scatters its gathered fragrance,

the old world once more grows young.

Judas trees

                give their scarlet cups

                                 to jasmines and narcissus-eyes

                                                 will gaze at anemones.

The shrill cries of the nightingale at the rose’s canopy

bear witness to deep pains of separation.

If I left the mosque for the tavern

                I am not to blame:

                                preaching is long

                                                and time keeps passing by.

Heart, if you postpone 'til tomorrow

the pleasure life gives today

who will provide such treasure

to live the rest of your life?

During the month of Sha‘baan

keep the wine-cup in your hand;

that radiant brimful you will never see

until the last dark night of Ramadan.

The rose is dear

cherish its presence now;

it came to the garden by one path

and it will go by another.

Poet, the love-gathering is here,

recite a ghazal.

How long will you keep saying

‘it happened like this and will happen like that?’

It was for you

Hafez came

into this world.

Take just one step

                to bid him farewell

                                for he will go.

Note: Bâd-e Saba is the east wind, a wind with presence and personality, so much so that it appears in over a hundred of the ghazals.  Here are two links to a charming video by Albert Lamorisse on Bâd-e Saba, one in English , the other in Persian (they run for 70 minutes):

http://www.ubu.com/film/lamorisse_vent.html

http://www.ubu.com/film/lamorisse_vent-farsi.html

& Sha‘baan is the month preceding Ramadan.

(translated from the Persian text above -- BR)  

 Some Thoughts about the ghazal and translation:

The first 3 couplets of this ghazal greet us with the promise of the year’s spring renewal -- seasonal fragrances, flowers and the familiar rose and nightingale; there is impermanence in seasonal changes; the seasons come only to depart again and this departure, although it is not stated in couplets 1 and 2, may bring sadness, pain or even anguish to all who reflect on the passing of time: the nightingale, however, feels it and cries out.  Separation from the rose is painful and what's more, it is an outrage  (تطاول / tataavol). 

Next. there is a shift to the speaker who brings us to the center of the ghazal in bayts 4 and 5 where in couplet 4 the speaker tells us that time (زمان / zamaan) is passing and concern for the future irrelevant.  In bayt 5, time is paired with the unlikelihood, if today's plesures are deferred, of the guarantee of security for the future, elegantly expressed by thought and language through time’s Persian homophone (ضمان / zamaan/ ‘security or guarantor’).

Couplets 7 and 8, beginning with  گل عزیز‏ست  --  ‘the rose is dear…’ speak further to holding life in the present dear, and it is likely that the poet refers to himself when he addresses the مطرب / motreb in bayt 8 and enjoins this ‘musician(poet)’ not to sing about the past or the future.

In the final bayt, we cannot be sure who تو / to / ’you’ is.  Is Hafez talking about ‘you, reader/reciter/ hearer of my ghazals (or this ghazal),’ for whom the poet has come into the world, who lives to remind all to live in life today?  I will say more below on this final couplet.

Some remarks about the text and translation: first, I don't want to pass over the cleverness in this ghazal of the inspired radif خواهد شد / khaayad shod which can mean what either will become/come about or depart.  In the first mesraa‘ Bâd-e Saba will come to scatter ‘its gathered fragrance’ (a useful borrowing from Thomas Gray, "Cool Zephyrs through the clear blue sky/ Their gather’d fragrance fling…”), and in the last mesraa‘ Hafez ‘will go.’ 

Rosebuds or Judas trees drop their scarlet cups on jasmines below them and the beautiful eye of the daffodil or narcissus gazes at anemones.  The anemone meant likely was a poppy -- scroll down to see a field of shaqaayeq on the cover of a book of photographs, with accompanying poems of Sohrab Sepehri, by photographer Riccardo Zipoli, While Poppies Bloom  (taa shaqaayeq hast).

I had hoped to make the 5^th bayt rhythmic and proverbial and am not entirely satisfied with it.  The second mesraa‘ asks literally ‘who will provide sufficient hard cash for the rest of your life?’  I use ‘treasure’ metaphorically for hard cash; heart lives, heart thrives from its storehouse of pleasures ‘life gives today.’ If this heart-treasury becomes depleted by pleasures deferred, what/who can it look to for sustenance?  So I have settled for now with the rhyme of pleasure/treasure.

It was important to contrast the sun-bright, radiant wine (khorshid) with the darkness of night (shab) in bayt 6.

In bayt 7, the ‘rose’ here is love or life itself, which comes and goes; and as I have suggested in bayt 8, the reference is to a love-gathering of intimates and the poet will not speak of past and future (this is what I take this mesraa‘ to mean).

In the final bayt, is it possible that ‘you’ is God who breathed life into Hafez and to other mortals and this divine breath brought the poet (and others) into the world to please Him?  Hafez asks in recompense for just one step towards him (Hafez) before he dies…?

جیحون اثری ز اشک پالودۀ ماست

دوزخ شرری ز رنج بیهودۀ ماست

فردوس دمی ز وقت آسودۀ ماست

Hedayat, quatrain 142

gardun negari ze qadd farsude-ye maast

jayhun asari ze ashk-e paalude-ye maast

duzakh sharari ze ranj-e bihude-ye maast

ferdaws dami ze vaqt-e aasude-ye maast

Our world is worn weary like us,

the Jayhun flows with tears we have shed,

Hell, our sparks of anguish held in vain,

Heaven, a pause in time we've gained.

Translation & Discussion of the quatrain: 1. Heaven/the world is an example of our worn out body -- نگری = نموده ای/ negari = nomude'i (Anvari, 8.7953) and قدّ/qadd , body, here not in the 'fair' form as in Hafez, usually 'stature'; e.g., Khanlari, 174.9: به قد و چهره هرآن کس که شاه خوبان شد -- 'everyone who, due to face and stature, has become king of beauties ...' 2. The Jayhun (Amu Darya/Oxus) the trace/result/flow of our tears made pure -- see Saidi, note 99, p. 252 on the Oxus. This river-name at least in classical Persian was coupled with the verb کردن = kardan with the meaning of tear up, weep or cause a flood (the last in Hafez, Khanlari 341.5). So tears may be expected when the Jayhun is mentioned; however, the tears in the context of this roba'i are plentiful and contribute to the flow of this great river. That they are 'made pure' or 'strained' or 'filtered' (the participle پالوده / paalude may refer to tears of the heart filtered through the eyes or the catharsis weeping often produces). This river is now usually called the Amu Darya (with various spellings) and owes its source to the junction of the Panj and Vakhsh rivers at the southwestern tip of Tajikistan where Tajikistan borders Afghanistan. The Greeks and Romans called it the Oxus. I don't how long the name Jayhun persisted, and it may be called by that name even today in some areas of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. I suppose it's accurate to say that in this 'Nile to Oxus' region, the Nile and Oxus were the principal rivers, the Oxus navigable for over half its 1,500 or so miles and was, as some traveler-historian had referred to it in its olden days, 'the highway of nations.' The Jayhun would have been well-known to Persians. One trading route, one of the Silk Roads, crossed the Jayhun between Bukhara and Marv on the way to Nishapur ... and just east of Bukhara was Samarqand (both Bukhara and Samarqand large and prosperous cities) 3. Hell the sparks of our pain in vain -- calls to mind -- 'the pain in vain' the final mesra of the source-quatrain in weblog Quatrain 36 (Quatrain 36 devoted to FitzGerald's famous stanza, The Moving Finger writes...)

زین پیش نشان بودنیها بوده است

پیوسته قلم ز نیک و بد ناسوده است

در روز ازل هر آنچه بایست بداد

غم خودن و کوشیدن ما بیهوده است

zin pish neshaan-e budanihaa budast
payvaste qalam ze nik o bad naasudast
dar ruz-e azal har aanche baayest bedaad
gham khordan o kushidan-e maa bihudast

What was to be was written long ago,
the restless pen spared nothing good or bad.
The first day it set down the rules of life,
our pouting, trying harder -- what a waste of time.

4. Paradise a moment of our time made free (of pain, toil, strife)

And FitzGerald, not in the 1st edition but appearing in editions 2-4:

Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,

And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire,

Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves,

So late emerg'd from, shall so soon expire.

Stanza 67, 4th ed.

Heron-Allen (101-103), below, offers Ouseley 33 and Calcutta 90 as sources, where only the first mesra varies, gardun kamari az tan-e farsude-ye maast which Heron-Allen translates, The heavenly vault is a girdle (cast) from my weary body,:

گردون کمری از تن فرسودۀ ماست

جیحون اثری ز اشک پالودۀ ماست

دوزخ شرری ز رنج بیهودۀ ماست

فردوس دمی ز وقت آسودۀ ماست

Neither Dashti nor Forughi-Ghani include this roba'i.  It occurs in Nicolas (90) and Saidi has a slightly different reading in each line of the first bayt: ز عمر /ze 'omr (-e) in the first mesra and ze cheshme-ye 'aalude/ ز چشم آلودهۀ in the second.  Saidi's rendering:

The world is but a belt of fading years,

The Oxus but the trace of running tears;

And Hell is but the spark of futile toil,

And Paradise a flash of fleeting cheers.

Saidi, quatrain 122 (see Aminrazavi, p. 122)

بر ساز ترانه ای و پیش آور می

کافکند به خاک صد هزاران جم و کی

این آمدن تیر مه و رفتن دی

Dashti, quatrain 34, p. 250

hangaam-e sabuh ay sanam-e farrokh pay

bar saaz taraane'i yo pish aavar may

kafkand be khaak sad hazaaraan jam o kay

'in aamadan-e tir mah o raftan-e day

O Lightsome Love, 'tis time for dawn-draught, pray,

The goblet fetch and sing a song, be gay;

The endless round of Teer and Dey has flung

A hundred thousand Jams and Keys on clay.

Saidi, quatrain 6

Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say;

Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?

And this first Summer month that brings the Rose

Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobád away.

FitzGerald, stanza 9, 4th and posthumous editions

(see below for Arberry's discussion of FitzGerald's sources and treatment of this stanza)

Translation & Discussion of the quatrain:

1. Time for the morning drink, my love of auspicious step ... فرخ پی/farrokh pay, a compound adjective, 'possessing a blessed, auspicious foot.' The narrator addresses let's say a mistress, or 'love' as I have here, who will bring the morning drink with auspicious and blessed gait, bringing pleasure to the speaker and any others who may happen to be there.  The epithet seems formulaic (there is farkhonde pay as well with the same meaning and maybe other auspicious '-pays'), and I wonder if it is rooted to the importance of the person who first enters, a first-footer whose entry needs to be a favorable one, in this case the entry accompanied by an auspicious first-cup of the day. Saidi has a note on the morning drink, the صبوح /sabuh. He says that having an early morning cup was the custom in pre-Islamic times and its preservation in later times, for revelers at least, represented a freedom from religious prohibition (see note 9, p. 237; cf. weblog Quatrain 45) 2. Sing a song and bring the wine 3. Hurled to earth a hundred thousand Jams and Kays... for Kayqobad and Jamshid, see weblog Quatrains 15 and 24 respectively (and Saidi's note 69, p. 248 for Kayqobad and note 66, p. 247 for Jamshid 4. This coming of the month of Tir and the going of Day...again, see Saidi's note 10 and 11, pp. 237-238 on Tir and Day. The month Tir ushering in summer, roughly from June 22 to July 22. The month of Day begins winter, 22 December (see Hazhir Teimourian's translation of weblog Quatrain 53 for this cycle, 'May to December, December to May')

I end this segment, Quatrains 41-59, with FitzGerald as we are approaching the year 2009, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edward FitzGerald and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of his Rubáiyát.  Here is a summary of Arberry's note on this stanza and FitzGerald's sources (Arberry, Romance... pp. 144-5; 198: Arberry says (198) the source of the first half of this stanza was the first bayt of C 518:

ازآمدن بهار واز رفتن دی

اوراق وجود  ما همی گردد طی

'az 'aamadan-e behaar vaz raftan-e day

'awraaq-e vojud-e maa hami gardad tay

With the coming of Spring and the departing of December all the leaves of our existence are being rolled up (Arberry)

And coupled with the second bayt (as Dashti also records it)

کفکند به خاک صد هزار[ان] جم و کی

این آمدن تیر مه و رفتن دی

 kafkand be khaak sad hazaar[aan] jam o kay

'in aamadan-e tir mah o raftan-e dai

 For to earth has flund a hundred thousand Jams and Kais this coming of April [sic] and departing of December (Arberry)

FitzGerald, according to Arberry (144-5) "misread dai ('December') as dî ('yesterday') despite the requirement of the rhyme, and was therefore puzzled by bahâr ('Spring').  Accordingly he introduced the idea of 'today' ('with the Day', 'Morning', 'Each Morn') ... " [ 'With the day' occurs in the 1st edition and 'Morning' in the 2nd.]  See Decker, p. 127, for the comparative texts of all editions.