The Persian Literature Volume I Part 49

While in the school of Truth thou stay'st, from Master Love to learn, Endeavor, though a son to-day, the father's grade to earn.

Slumber and food have held thee far from Love's exalted good: Wouldst thou attain the goal of love, abstain from sleep and food.

If with the rays of love of truth thy heart and soul be clear, By G.o.d! thy beauty shall outs.h.i.+ne the sun which lights the sphere.

Wash from the dross of life thy hands, as the Path's men of old, And winning Love's alchemic power, trans.m.u.te thyself to gold.

On all thy frame, from head to foot, the light of G.o.d shall s.h.i.+ne, If on the Lord of Glory's path nor head nor foot be thine.

An instant plunge into G.o.d's sea, nor e'er the truth forget That the Seven Seas' o'erwhelming tide, no hair of thine shall wet.

If once thy glancing eye repose on the Creator's face.

Thenceforth among the men who glance shall doubtless be thy place.[46]

When that which thy existence frames all upside-down shall be, Imagine not that up and down shall be the lot of thee.

Hafiz, if ever in thy head Dwell Union's wish serene, Thou must become the threshold's dust Of men whose sight is keen.

[FOOTNOTES to THE DIVAN]

[Footnote 1: "The traveller of the Pathway"--the Magian, or Shaikh. In former times wine was chiefly sold by Magians, and as the keepers of taverns and caravansaries grew popular, the term Magian was used to designate not only "mine host," but also a wise old man, or spiritual teacher.]

[Footnote 2: An allusion to the dimple and moisture of the chin, considered great beauties by Orientals.]

[Footnote 3: Jem or Jems.h.i.+d, an ancient King of Persia. By Jem and his Saki are to be understood, in this couplet, the King of Yazd and his courtiers.]

[Footnote 4: By the azure cowl is implied the cloak of deceit and false humility. Hafiz uses this expression to cast ridicule upon Shaikh Hazan's order of dervishes, who were inimical to the brotherhood of which the poet was a member. The dervishes mentioned wore blue to express their celestial aspirations.]

[Footnote 5: The disciples of Shaikh Hasan. Hafiz had incurred their displeasure by the levity of his conduct.]

[Footnote 6: In the "Gulistan" of Sa'di a philosopher declares that, of all the trees, the cypress is alone to be called free, because, unlike the others, it is not subject to the vicissitudes of appointed place and season, "but is at all times fresh and green, and this is the condition of the free."]

[Footnote 7: In some MSS. we read: "The mirror of Sikander is the goblet of Jem." King Jem, or Jems.h.i.+d, had a talismanic cup: Sikander, or Alexander, had inherited from pre-Adamite times a magic mirror by means of which he was enabled to see into the camp of his enemy Dara (Darius).

Hafiz here informs us that the knowledge imputed to either king was obtained by wine.]

[Footnote 8: Referring to wine, which in the Koran is declared to be the Mother of Vices.]

[Footnote 9: Korah, Kore, or Karun, the Dives of his age, was an alchemist. He lived in an excess of luxury and show. At the height of his pride and gluttony he rebelled against Moses, refusing to pay a t.i.the of his possessions for the public use. The earth then opened and swallowed him up together with the palace in which he dwelt. (See Koran, chap, xxviii, and, for the Bible narrative, The Book of Numbers, chap, xvi.)]

[Footnote 10: It was decreed from all eternity that Hafiz should drink wine. He had therefore no free agency and could not be justly blamed.]

[Footnote 11: The boy serving at the wine-house.]

[Footnote 12: The curl of hair over a moon-like face is here compared to a curved mall-bat sweeping over a ball.]

[Footnote 13: By "earth" is to be understood Noah himself.]

[Footnote 14: Fate, Fortune, and the Sky, are in Oriental poetry intervertible expressions; and the dome of Heaven is compared to a cup which is full of poison for the unfortunate.]

[Footnote 15: The rebeck is a sort of violin having only three chords.]

[Footnote 16: His locks being black as night and his cheek cheerful as the Sun of Da or December.]

[Footnote 17: Kai-kaus, one of the most celebrated monarchs of Persia.]

[Footnote 18: The pictured halls of China, or, in particular, the palace of Arzhang, the dwelling of Manes. Manes lived in the third century of our era, and his palace was famed as the Chinese picture-gallery. Hafiz compares the bloom upon the cheek of his friend to the works of art executed by Manes, in which dark shadows, like velvety down upon the human face, excite no surprise.]

[Footnote 19: The Nasrin is the dog-rose.]

[Footnote 20: In Mohammedan countries it is customary to write upon the doors: "O Opener of the gates! open unto us the gates of blessing."]

[Footnote 21: Rizvan is the gardener and gatekeeper of Paradise.]

[Footnote 22: The lote-tree, known to Arabs as the Tuba, is a p.r.i.c.kly shrub. The Koran says: "To those who believe, and perform good works, appertain welfare and a fair retreat. The men of the right hand--how happy shall be the men of the right hand!--shall dwell among the lote-trees without thorns. Under their feet rivers shall flow in the garden of Delight."]

[Footnote 23: According to Oriental belief, the ruby and all other gems, derive their brilliancy from the action of the sun. By a similar process of Nature, ruby lips obtain their vivid color from the sun above them.]

[Footnote 24: The zodiacal light or faint illumination of the sky which disappears before the light of daybreak.]

[Footnote 25: asaf, Solomon's "Vizir," was entrusted with the guardians.h.i.+p of the imperial signet ring, which was possessed of magical properties. While in his care it was stolen. When Solomon granted an audience to animals, and even insects, the ant, it is related, brought as an offering a blade of gra.s.s and rebuked asaf for having guarded the royal treasure so carelessly. By asaf, Hafiz symbolizes in the present instance his friend or favorite; by the ant is implied a small hair on the face, and by the lost signet of Jem, a beautiful mouth, so small and delicate as to be invisible.]

[Footnote 26: Majnun, a celebrated lover, maddened by the charms of Laila.]

[Footnote 27: This ode may have been written in grat.i.tude for the patronage of a man of rank.]

[Footnote 28: Literally in this toper-consuming shrine (of the world).

The second line of the couplet probably means: Other revellers have preceded me, but their heads are now potter's clay in the potter's field of the earth.]

[Footnote 29: The wild tulip of s.h.i.+raz has white petals streaked with pink, the inner end of each bearing a deep puce mark. The dark spot formed thus in the centre of the flower is compared to the brand of love, pre-ordained on the Past Day of Eternity to be imprinted on the heart of Hafiz.]

[Footnote 30: Khosrau (Cyrus) is the t.i.tle of several ancient kings of Persia, and is here used in the plural to denote monarchs in general.

The term "kiblah," fronting-point, signifies the object towards which the wors.h.i.+pper turns when he prays.]

[Footnote 31: Korah or Karun--the miser who disobeyed Moses and was swallowed up with his treasures by the earth. They are said to be still sinking deeper and deeper. (See Numbers, xvi.)]

[Footnote 32: How vain were the glories of Solomon! asaf was his minister, the East wind his courser, and the language of birds one of his accomplishments; but the blast of time had swept them away.]

[Footnote 33: The "Comment of the Comments" is a celebrated explanatory treatise on the Koran.]

[Footnote 34: Kaf is a fabulous mountain encircling the world. In this couplet and the following the poet ridicules the ascetics of his time.]

[Footnote 35: The false coiners are inferior poets who endeavor to pa.s.s off their own productions as the work of Hafiz.]

[Footnote 36: Aiman (Happiness) is the valley in which G.o.d appeared to Moses--metaphorically, the abode of the Beloved.]

[Footnote 37: "Mihrab"--the niche in a mosque, towards which Mohammedans pray.]