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Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy

by Hafiz
(1320 - 1389) Timeline

English version by
Bernard Lewis

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

Muslim / Sufi
14th Century

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

Amazon.com

 

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 >>

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.