Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

facingPersiantext),Ihavebasedthefollowingtwoillustrationsonmyownslightly
revised versions of the translations by Elizabeth T. Gray inTheGreenSeaofHeaven:
FiftyGhazalsfromtheDīwānofHāfiz,pp.49and69.Theoriginaltranslationshavebeen
supplementedhereonlyasnecessarytoindicateparticularimportantoriginaltex-
tual key words or clues (usually more literal or in some cases underlying Arabic
meanings) that are referred to in the following discussion of eachghazal. The par-
ticular numbers identifying eachghazalhere (6, 13) refer to their original order in
thatpublishedvolumeofEnglishtranslations.

PerspectiveShiftsinGhazal6:The‘Absence’oftheFriend

This short and relatively straightforwardghazal^5 offers a richly illustrative intro-
duction to Ḥāfiẓ’s typical use of subtle and rapidly shifting, typically ambivalent
shifts in perspective and voice. To begin with, almost every phrase in the opening
line – as we shall see in more detail below – offers a complexly evocative set of
inescapable existential alternatives (engaging and awakening each reader’s will,
love, understanding and intention), which are then articulated and given voice in
anongoing,graduallyascendinginternaldialoguethroughouttherestofthepoem.
For the sake of simplicity, we could call these two parallel starting points the ‘two
facesoftheintellect’(‘aql),alreadysofamiliarfromtheQur’ānandcenturiesofear-
lier Islamic spiritual poetry; that is, the intrinsically limited, ego-mind of the
human-animal(bashar),incontrastwiththeall-inclusive,inspiredandpenetrating
spiritual Intelligence. Initially, each pair of verses retains a single similar formal
perspective,whileatthesametimesubtlypreparingthewayforthemorecompre-
hensivepointsofviewarticulatedinthefollowingsetoflines.Thefinalverse,asis
usually the case with Ḥāfiẓ, stands alone as the definitive – hence almost always
knowingly ironic and multi-faceted – response to all the preceding interrogations,
inherently recapitulating and integrating all those possible multiple perspectives
withinthewholeofeachreader’sexperience.

Ghazal 6

[1]Odawnwind,whereistheFriend’sresting-place/shrine/tomb?

Whereisthatmoon’sstopping-place,thatrogue,killer/enticeroflovers?

[2]Thenightisdark,thewaytothevalleyof(theburningbush)isupahead.

WhereisthefireofSinai?Whereisthepromisedtimeofseeing(theFriend)?

[3]Whoevercomesintothisworldbearsthemarkofruin/transience:

Inthistavern/ruins,say:Whereisthesober/wiseone?

[4]Hewhounderstandsspiritualsignsliveswithgladtidings.

Therearesomanysubtleties:Whereistheintimateofsecrets?

Ḥāfiẓ’sRomanticImageryandLanguageofLove 235