Listen: Hafez ghazal

I speak frankly and that makes me happy:

I am the slave of love, I am free of both worlds.

I am a bird from heaven’s garden. How do I describe that separation,

my fall into this snare of accidents?

I was an angel and highest paradise was my place.

Adam brought me to this monastery in the city of ruin.

The hours’ caress, the pool and shade trees of paradise

were forgotten in the breeze from your alleyway.

There is nothing on the tablet of my heart but my love’s tall alif.

What can I do? My master taught me no other letter.

No astrologer knew the constellations of my fate.

O lord, when I was born of mother earth which stars were rising?

Ever since I became a slave at the door of love’s tavern

sorrows come to me each moment with congratulations.

The pupil of my eye drains the blood from my heart.

I deserve it. Why did I give my heart to the darling of others?

Wipe the tears from Hafiz’s face with soft curls

or else this endless torrent will uproot me.

Translation: Elizabeth Gray, The Green Sea of Heaven, p. 130