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connected problems, meanings and frameworks of interpretation familiar from
otherghazals and from the poet’s wider cultural and literary background. In this
case, for example, we are obliged to assume from the start that the pointedly con-
trastingperspectives,quiteclearlyarticulatedinverses5–7,mustbereadbackinto
thefirsthalfofthepoem,andparticularlyintothetwohalvesoftheopeningverse.
Ghazal 13[1] What is more happy than life/pleasure, spiritual conversation, the
garden,andspring?
WhereistheSāqī?Say,whatisthecauseofwaiting/expectation?[2]Takeasablessingeachinstantofhappinessthatisgiventoyou:
Nooneknows(forsure)whattheoutcomeoftheWorkis.[3]Theconnectionoflifeistiedwithasinglehair:Beaware/wise!
Focus on (the cause of) your own pain – what is the pain of fate/time/the
world?[4]TherealmeaningoftheWaterofLifeandthegardenofIram:
What is it but the edge of this flowing stream and wholesome/delicious
wine?[5] Since the sober [‘veiled ones’] and the intoxicated are both from one
tribe,
We,towhomshouldwegivetheHeart?Whatis(arbitrary)choosing?[6] What does the heavenly sphere know of the Secret behind the veil?
Silence!
Ocritic/pretender/complainer,whatisyourquarrelwiththeVeil-Keeper?![7]TheasceticwantsthedrinkofKawthar,andḤāfiẓwantstheCup(ofthe
heart):
Sobetweenthetwo,whichdoestheCreater/Doerchoose!?Line1:‘WhatistheCauseofthisWaiting?’The opening verse of this ghazal sets out the two opposing metaphysical
perspectivesthatarecontrastedthroughoutthispoem.Thefirsthalf-line,apurely
rhetorical question – and in reality an ecstatic exclamation of pure delight –
straightforwardly articulates Ḥāfiẓ’s (and each accomplished spiritual Knower’s)
immediate perception of the inherent good of the Spirit and the realized divine
Presence,ofthe‘Garden’ofdivineproximityasalreadypresentinthepurifiedand
ḤāfiẓandtheReligionofLoveinClassicalPersianPoetry