Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry

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necessarilyestablishthemythictimeofthepoem.Forexample,wefinddamīdanin
thepasttenseforrisingofthemetaphoricalsun:

Guftamaybakhtbi-khusbīdīukhwurshīddamīd.(399:2)

Isaid,fortune,yousleptlateandthesunarose.

Ihavenotcheckedforthenearsynonymofbar āmadanornūr afkandan,and
soon,wherethesunissubject;however,thewordsforsun(āftābandkhwurshid;
shamsdoesnotoccurintheghazals)donotnecessarilyseemtospecifysunrise
asthepoetictimeofthepoemwherethesewordsoccurinthefirstlineofthe
ghazal.
However,thewordTul ̄. u‘,meaningsunrise,occursfourtimes,thoughsometimes
alsosaidofthemoonrise(110:3),sometimesofthesolarwineinthedawning-place
ofthedrinkingcup(288:3),andsometimesemployedinavirtuosicallyplayfulman-
ner,asinthisline(55:3):


Zimashriq-isar-ikū-yāftāb-iṭal‘at-itu
agarṭulū‘kunadṭāli‘amhumāyunast.

Ifthesunofyourradiantcountenance,fromtheeastofthequarter
dawns,myastrologicalchartwillaugurroyal,auspicious.

ThewordSab ̄. a.hoccurstwice,onceinthephraseharṣabāḥumasā(443:8),every
morningandevening,meaningsimply‘allthetime’.Intheotherincidence,how-
ever,ṣabāḥdoesactuallyhavearitual,oreventranscendent,semioticcharge,and
determinesthetime-frameofthepoem,situatingtheactionsinamythopoetic
realm(128:1):


Biāb-irawshan-imay‘ārifīṭahāratkard
‘ala‘ṣ-ṣabāhkimaykhānarāziyāratkard.

Withthebrightwaterofwine,aGnosticmadeablutions
Whenatdawnhemadepilgrimagetothewinetavern.

Thiswinepoemcontinueswithcelestialimagery,asfollows:


Hamānkisāghar-izarrīn-ikhwurnahāngardīd
hilāl-i‘aydbi-dawr-iqadaḥishāratkard
Khwushānamāzuniyāz-ikasīkiazsar-idard
biāb-idīdavakhūn-ijigarṭahāratkard
Birū-yiyārnaẓarkunzidīdaminnatdār
kikār-idīdahamaazsar-ibaṣāratkard

Ḥāfiẓ’sRomanticImageryandLanguageofLove 269
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