Poets From Persia

"Hindu writers have been entirely excluded from holding public offices, and all the worshipping places of the infidels and great temples of these infamous people have been thrown down and destroyed in a manner which excites astonishment at the successful completion of so difficult a task. His Majesty personally teaches the sacred kalima to many infidels with success. All the mosques in the empire are repaired at public expense. Imama, criers to the daily prayers, and readers of the khutba, have been appointed to each of them, so that a large sum of money has been and is still laid out in these disbursements."

"In the church I said to a Christian charmer of hearts, 'O thou in whose net the heart is captive! O thou to the warp of whose girdle each hair-tip of mine is separately attached! How long wilt thou continue not to find the way to the Divine Unity? How long wilt thou impose on the One the shame of the Trinity? How can it be right to name the One True God "Father", "Son", and "Holy Ghost"? She parted her sweet lips and said to me, while with sweet laughter she poured sugar from her lips: 'If thou art aware of the Secret of the Divine Unity, do not cast on us the stigma of infidelity! In three mirrors the Eternal Beauty cast a ray from His effulgent countenance. Silk does not become three things if thou callest it Parniyan, Harir, and Parand. While we were thus speaking, this chant rose up beside us from the church bell: 'He is One and there is naught save He: There is no God save Him alone!'"

"The traveller must also give up resistance to God's decree and refrain from prayers for reward in the hereafter."

"In the state of elevation, the mystic may be able to read heavenly books in languages and characters previously unknown to him and learn the heavenly names of things and beings in including his own eternal name which is different from his wordly name."

"Permanent concentration upon the Divine Names in the retreat leads to mystical awareness."

"Man as a microcosm contains everything that exists in the macrocosm."

"The lower soul, the Devil, and the Angels are not realities external to you. You are them. So too Heaven, Earth, and the Divine Throne are not outside you, nor are Paradise, Hell, Life, or Death. All exist withn you, as you will realize once you have accomplished the initiatic journey and become pure."

"Prayer according to Shariah is service, according to Tariqa proximity, and according to Haqiqa union with God."

"The heart possesses subtle organs of perception, which are progressively purifies by the performance of dhikr, together with other spiritual discipline and exercises."

"Take not apart the good pearl from the string; from him who is of evil nature flee. An evil nature acts consistently: have you not heard that Nature does not err? The evil-natured man keeps faith with none; the erring nature does not fail to err. The scorpion since it is by nature bad—to let it live's a fault, to kill it, good. Seek knowledge, for through knowledge you effect that doors to you be opened and not closed. He who shames not at learning can draw forth pearls from the water, rubies from the rock. Whilst he to whom no knowledge is assigned—that person (you will find) ashamed to learn. How many, keen of mind, in effort slack, sell pottery from lack of pearls (to sell)! How many a dullard, through his being taught, becomes the chief judge of the Seven Climes!"

"I went to the Tavern last night, but I was not admitted I was bellowing yet nobody was listening to me Either none of the wine-sellers were awake Or I was a nobody, and no one opened the door for a Nobody When more or less half of the night had passed A shrewd, perfect man (rind) raised his head from a booth and showed his face I asked him: “to open the door”, he told me: “go away, do not talk nonsense! At this hour, nobody opens door for anybody This is not a mosque where its doors are open any moment Where you can come late and move quickly to the first row This is the Tavern of Magians and rinds dwell here There are Beauties, candle, wine, sugar, reed flute and songs Whatever wonders that exists, is present here (in this tavern there are) Muslims, Armenians, Zoroastrian, Nestorians, and Jews If you are seeking company of all that is found here You must become a dust upon the feet of everyone in order to reach your (spiritual perfection) goal” O Nezami! if you knock the ring on this door day and night You won't find except smoke from this burning fire"

"Alas, the wasted labour of my youth! Alas, the hope which vain hath proved in truth! I tunnelled mountain walls: behold my prize! My labour's wasted: here the hardship lies! The world is void of sun and moon for me: My garden lacks its box and willow tree. For the last time my beacon-light hath shone; Not Shirin, but the sun from me is gone! Beyond Death's portals, Shirin shall I greet, So with one leap, I hasten Death to meet! Thus to the world the mournful tale he cried, For Shirin kissed the ground and kissing died."

"Like as my ancestors, so did my father Yusuf, son of Zaki Muwajjad, early depart hence. Yet what boots it to quarrel with destiny? Fate spoke, and complaints must be hushed. Yet whose father died not? When I saw him depart to his fathers, I tore his image out of my heart. Whatever has happened to me, bitter or sweet, all I have done is to resign myself."

"Every man whose faith is other than predestinarian Is, according to the Prophet, even as a guebre."

"When I was a lion, panther was my prey; I caught everything which I hunted. When I came to embrace tightly love for you, A lame fox drove me from den."

"Freedom from lower qualities is an essential qualification required for spiritual progress."

"The first step in Sufism is the breaking of inkpot and the tearing-up of books and the forgetting of all kinds of intellectual knowledge."

"There is nothing inside this coat except Allah."

"What sweeter than this in the world! Friend met friend and the lover joined his Beloved. That was all sorrow, this is all joy Those were all words, this is all reality."

"If you wish that God should dwell in your heart, purify your heart from all save Him for the king will not enter a house filled with stores and furniture. He will only enter a heart which is empty of all save Himself."

"Love came and flew as blood in my veins Emptied me of myself and filled me with beloved. Each part of my being she conquered Now a mere name is left to me and the rest is she."

"Through love we're slain, the world's our slaughter house We've no food nor sleep, the world's our cookhouse. We've no desire for paradise, because Our hell's a hundred times loftier than that."

"Hell is where you are and Paradise where you are not."

"Take one step out of yourself that you may arrive at God."

"Evil is thou', and the worst evil is thou', which thou knowest it not."

"If you don not come to repent your existence, You'll never approach the circle of gnostics and drunkards Unless in other's eyes you become an infidel, In the creed of lovers, you'll never be Muslim."

"The heart enquired of the soul What is the beginning of this business? What its end, and what its fruit? The soul answered: The beginning of it is the annihilation of self, Its end faithfulness, And its fruit immortality."

"Great shame it is to deem of high degree Thyself, or over others rackon thee. Strive to be like the pupil of thine eye— To see all else, but not thyself to see."

"The heart in which love and compassion for all living beings resides, can have no room for seeking after personal pleasures. O friend, take care to do no harm to any living creature; to hurt his creation is to forget the Creator."

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

"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!""

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

"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."

"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?"

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"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."