people-from-shiraz

"A Shah no other than thyself aspiring Hafiz craves; Oh! were he in thy doorway’s dust one of thy common slaves."

"Daughters of turbulent mind awaking their mothers’ ire, And sons who of froward mood wish ill to their sire, I see; Sherbets of sugar and rose the world to the fool supplies, But naught save his own heart’s blood the food of the wise I see; Galled by the pack-saddle’s weight the Arab’s proud steed grows old, Yet always the ass’s neck encircled with gold I see."

"What serves thy armour ’gainst Fate’s arrows fierce? What serves thy shield if Destiny transpierce? Though steel and iron may thy ramparts plate When comes the mandate, Death shall burst thy gate."

"Reckon as plunder the path of profligacy. For this track Like the path to the hidden treasure is not evident to every one."

"Anonymous, A Century of Ghazels, or, A Hundred Odes, Selected and Translated from the Diwan of Hafiz (1875)"

"O partridge, bird of graceful gait, say whether wouldst thou shape thy way? Be not so bold, for well we know how the religious cat can pray."

"What holds in peace this two-fold world, let this two-fold sentence show Amity to every friend, courtesy to every foe."

"Come! hear of those who have felt sorrow’s touch Their words are few, but what they mean is much."

"Heart, should the flood of death life’s fabric sweep away, Noah shall steer the ark o’er billows dark, despair not. Though perilous the stage, though out of sight the goal, Whithersoe’er we wend, there is an end, despair not. If love evades our grasp, and rivals press their suit, God, Lord of every change, surveys the range, despair not."

"Profit by companionship; this two-doored house (i.e., life) forsaken, No pathway that can thither lead in future time is taken."

"And what though all the world should sink! Hafis! with thee, alone with thee Will I contend! joy, misery, The portion of us twain shall be; Like thee to love, like thee to drink,— This be my pride,—this, life to me!"

"Herman Bicknell, Hafiz of Shiraz: Selections from his Poems, Translated from the Persian (1875)"

"If it is thy desire that the Beloved should not break the covenant, Keep thy end of the thread that He may keep his end."

"If by the Holy Spirit’s grace the gift again be won The works which the Messias wrought by others may be done."

"Sweet are the garden, the rose, and wine, but they would not be sweet without the company of my darling."

"It is a crime to seek to raise but self, Before all other men to praise but self, The pupil of the eye a lesson gives, Be all submitted to thy gaze but self."

"Though many a rose in this garden is born No mortal who culls one escapes from the thorn."

"Slight me not zealot, go thou hence ashamed For naught is slight that has by God been framed."

"Wash from the dross of life thy hands as the Path’s men of old And, winning love’s alchemic power, transmute thyself to gold."

"Breeze which at the morning blowest, Fly, if faith and truth thou knowest, Say, to my Beloved one turning; He who with thy love is burning Dying sighs where he is hidden ‘Life without thee is forbidden.’"

"None see nor hear the malice of the sky Each ear is deaf and blind is every eye Oft those who moon and sun their pillow thought Have later bricks and clay too gladly sought."

"Regard opportunity. For when uproar fell upon the world, Hafiz struck at the cup and through grief took the corner of retirement."

"High birth may be a pearl of lustre, but let thine effort be To rise by deeds. Distinct is greatness from birth and pedigree."

"Even After All this time The Sun never says to the Earth,"You owe me."Look What happens With a love like that, It lights the whole sky."

"Herrlich ist der Orient Ubers Mittelmeer gedrungen; Nur wer Hafiz liebt und kennt Weiss was Calderon gesungen."

"Sir William Jones, A Grammar of the Persian Language (1771) · Poems, Consisting Chiefly of Translations from the Asiatick Languages (1772)"

"Spend well thy time; drink wine within the bower For when a week is gone, the flower is not; Snatch, snatch the hour that glads the heart so well For the pearl always in the shell is not."

"Be misery thy portion here, O Sage, or be it bliss Refer it not to other men: ’tis God who orders this."

"Enjoy! ’twixt lip and mouth the bounds as nothing are If humbled, care not; as the rose be gay, Life’s honours which pass soon away, as nothing are."

"Aloud I say it and with heart of glee, ‘Love’s slave am I and from both worlds am free.’ Can I, the bird of sacred gardens tell, Into this net of chance how first I fell?"

"Boy, let yon liquid ruby flow, And bid thy pensive heart be glad, Whate’er the frowning zealots say: Tell them, their Eden cannot show A stream so clear as Rocnabad, A bow’r so sweet as Mosellay."

"The dimple that thy chin contains has beauty in its round, That never has been fathomed yet by myriad thoughts profound."

"What necessity for a sword to slay the lover, when a glance can deprive him of half his life!"

"'Tis writ on Paradise's gate, "Woe to the dupe that yields to Fate!""

"Learn meekness from the shell in ocean’s bed And pearls on one who wounds thy head bestow."

"I have shut my eye like a falcon to all the world Since my (inward) eye is open to thy beauteous countenance."

"Thy curl is ever drawing the heart silently Who hath power to speak (quarrel) with Thy heart-vanishing curl."

"Opportunity flies, O brother, As the cloud that quick doth pass; Oh make use of it! life is precious If we let it go,—alas!"

"Like are, if void of purity, the k‘aba and the idle-fane The house that has not chastity can in its walls no good contain."

"The meshes of the net are strong but God withholds His grace from none, Not otherwise could man prevail o’er Satan the stone-pelted one."

"How well said the aged farmer to his son, O light of my eyes, thou wilt not reap save that which thou hast sown."

"O brothers, Mecca is in front, and robbers in the rear. By proceeding, we escape; and, if we sleep, we die."

"A return of good for good is a slight reciprocity; but the true recompense is to confer benefits on him who has injured thee."

"Whatever makes an impression on the heart seems lovely in the eye."

"From earth arise bright colors, scent, and food, To please the eye, the brain, and hunger’s mood. Bees honey give, sweet dew the heavens shed, The dates from palms, and trees from seeds are bred. Gnawing his hand, each gardener shows despair: For who but He can make the world so fair? The sun, the moon, the Pleiades on high,— Thy chandeliers; thy palace roof, the sky! The rose from thorns, and musk from bags He brings; Gold from the mines, a leaf from dry wood springs. His own hand drew thine eye and brow so fair; A friend one cannot leave to other’s care. That mighty One, who hath so cherished thee With blessings varied as the colored sea,— In praising him, our lives we ought to spend: Our tongues can’t count his virtues without end. O God! my heart is blood, sore wounds mine eyes: For, lo! I see thy praise beyond me lies. I say not beasts and ants and flies thee praise, But angel hosts, amazed, their hands upraise! Although by all the world thy praise is rung, Ten thousand thousands yet remain unsung. Saadi, depart! thy pen and paper quit; Take not that road which has no end to it!"

"To pious minds, each verdant leaf displays A volume teeming with the Almighty’s praise."

"Were the diver to think on the jaws of the shark, he would never lay hands on the precious pearl."

"In the faculty of speech man excels the brute; but if thou utterest what is improper, the brute is thy superior."

"He only has drunk the pure wine of unity who has forgotten, by remembering , all else in both worlds."

"Our condition is like the darting lightning, one instant flashing and the next disappearing. Sometimes we are seated above the fourth heaven, and at other times we cannot see the back of our feet."