TheRadianceofEpiphany:
TheVisionofBeautyandLove
in √Æfiæ’sPoemofPre-Eternity
Leili Anvar
‘Thepoetisoccupiedwithfrontiersofconsciousnessbeyondwhichwords
failthoughmeaningstillexists.’(T.S.Eliot^1 )InhisDīvān,whichformorethansixcenturieshasbeenanever-endingsourceof
inspirationforscholarsandilliteratepeoplealike,Ḥāfiẓconstantlyexploresthose
‘frontiersofconsciousnessbeyondwhichwordsfailthoughmeaningstillexists’,as
isconfirmedbyhispoetictitle‘MouthpieceoftheInvisible’(Lisān al-ghayb).Where
wordsfail–andtheyconstantlydosowhenwhatisatstakeisthe‘Invisible’orthe
realmofinnerrealities(‘ālam-i bātin)–poetryproducesmirrorimagesthatreflect
what usually cannot be imagined, vocalized or remembered. In the same way
thattheshimmeringmirrorlikesurfaceofthemirror/cupreflectsthefaceofthe
beauteousCup-bearer(Sāqī),eachghazalandeachimage,andlineinit,reflects,as
successivemirrors/monads,^2 awholeworldstandingbeyondthefrontiersofcon-
sciousness.ItcouldbearguedthateachlineoftheDīvān-i Ḥāfiẓistransfusedwitha
beautycastbythisreflectionoftheBelovedinthesamewayas,inmysticalterms,^3
themicrocosmreflectsthemacrocosm.^4 Thus,hispoeticimagesreflectbothintheir
formandmeaninganechooftheprimordialbeautyexperiencedbythehumansoul
inpre-Eternity,whenitemergedfromnothingnessbythecommandoftheCreator.^5
TheveryintricacyofḤāfiẓ’spoetryreflectsthecomplexityoftheexperienceof
love,^6 whichinturnisderivedfromthevisualexperienceofbeautyinallitsineffa-
bility and the resultant dilemma of integrating the variegated multiplicity of
beauty’srealityintoasinglediscourse.Witnesstheprofusionofbothliteraryand
mysticalcommentariesonHāfiẓ’sversethatcross-referencethemselvessointri-
cately,suchthatitisalmostimpossibletobesimplewhenyouspeakofḤāfiẓ,pre-
ciselybecausewhathehastosay(orratherbearwitnessto)–thatis,thecomplex
realityoflove–isimpossibletorecountinplain,simplewords.Thatisalsowhy
attemptstoparaphrasehisverseutterlynotonlydestroythepervasiveambienceof
beautyandpolysemichazesurroundingit,butalsoultimatelytruncatethemeaning
ofhispoems.Maybethatisalsowhyitissodifficult(somewouldsayimpossible)to
translateḤāfiẓintoanotherlanguage.Thechoiceofpoetryasthelanguageoflove