Love

Ode LXIII

by Hafiz c. 1315–1390

Translated by Herman Bicknell (in Persian Literature, 1909) · From Persian Literature (1909), trans. Bicknell

Love

My heart has of the world grown weary and all that it can lend:
The shrine of my affection holds no Being but my friend.

If e'er for me thy love's sweet garden a fragrant breath exhale,
My heart, expansive in its joy, shall bud-like burst its veil.

Should I upon love's path advise thee, when now a fool I've grown,
'Twould be the story of the fool, the pitcher, and the stone.

Go! say to the secluded zealot: "Withhold thy blame; for know,
I find the arch of the Mihráb but in an eyebrow's bow."

Between the Ka'bah and the wine-house, no difference I see:
Whate'er the spot my glance surveys, there equally is He.

'Tis not for beard, hair, eyebrow only, Kalandarism should care:
The Kalandar computes the Path by adding hair to hair.

The Kalandar who gives a hair's head,
An easy path doth tread:
The Kalandar of genuine stamp,
As Háfiz gives his head.

MLA

Hafiz. “Ode LXIII.” Translated by Herman Bicknell. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/hafiz/64/.

Chicago

Hafiz. “Ode LXIII.” Translated by Herman Bicknell. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/hafiz/64/.

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