Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi

14th Century

About Hafiz

Timeline (1320 - 1389)

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English version by
Bernard Lewis

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy,

Themes

Lover and Beloved

Sexual Union

Smile

Wine

Recommended Books

	Drunk on the Wine of Beloved: 100 Poems of Hafiz, by Thomas Rain Crowe
	The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master, by Daniel Ladinsky
	The Hafez Poems of Gertrude Bell: With the Original Persian on the Facing Page, by Gertrude Bell
	Hafez: Teachings of the Philosopher of Love, by Haleh Pourafzal
	The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia, with Lectures by Inayat Khan, Translated by Coleman Barks

More >>

Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy,
garment torn, singing a love song, glass in hand,
picking a quarrel, chanting a spell,
yesterday at midnight she came and sat by my bed.

She lowered her head to my ear, and whispered, sad-voiced,
"My old lover, are you asleep?"
The lover for whom such a nightfarer's drink is poured
is an unbeliever of love if he does not worship wine.

Come on, hermit, do not blame those who drink to the dregs,
there was no other gift when God announced His Mastery.
The smile of the wineglass, a girl's tangled tresses,
have broken may penances, as they broke the penance of Hafiz.

-- from Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish & Hebrew Poems, Translated by Bernard Lewis

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Hafiz

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World