40 8, (6). 1. If that Bold One (the true Beloved) of Shiraz gain our heart, For His dark mole, I will give Samarkand and Bukhārā (both worlds). Sāķi! give the wine (of divine love) remaining (from the people of religion); for, in Paradise, thou wilt not have The bank of the water of the Ruknābād (the lover's weeping eye) nor the rose of the garden of Musalla (the lover's heart). 1. Turk signifies : A tribe of Turkistān renowned for its beauty. When the Creator laid the snare of this world, He gave to them, above all other sons of Ādam, the share of beauty. Sa'di saith: "O happiness! when in Eternity without beginning they (Fate and Destiny) gave beauty to the men of Turkistān." Turk-i-Shirāzi signifies : (a) Ḥafz's beloved (Shākh-i-nabāt). (b) The true Beloved (God). If that Beloved of Shiraz gain our heart and take us from ourselves,-I will do like this and like that; and, with soul, bear the load of the Beloved's orders. Khāl-i-hindu (the dark mole) signifies: Seekers of the mean world. For the seeker of the world is steeped in avarice. Samarkand va Bukhārā signifies : : Faith (din) and the world; both worlds, this and the next. If that true Beloved (God) give us the path of access to Himself; and take us out of ourselves, we will employ for Him all our spirit and resolution, and incline not ourselves to this and the next world. 2. Sāķi (Cup-bearer) signifies : (a) the murshid. (b) the truth of the light of Muḥammad. (c) the pure existence of God. The Author of the Miratu-l-Ma'ani saith: Here, who is Sāķī, that is the pure existence ? He poureth wine into the jaw of things possible. There, when they worship wine, Here, again, they practise intoxication. There, to their own capacity, they drink wine: In their own appointed place, they become intoxicated. mai signifies: The mysteries of love, the cause of joy to people of heart. The Ruknabad is a stream, four feet wide, a mile to the north of Shiraz, whose water is very The source is a spring in the pass of Allāhu Akbar; a branch of the stream passeth by the Alas! These saucy dainty ones (lovely women) sweet of work, the torment of the city, Take patience from the heart even as the men of Turkistān (take) the tray of plunder. The beauty of the Beloved (God) is in no need of our imperfect love: Of lustre, and colour, and mole and tricked line (of eyebrow),—what need hath the lovely face? Musalla signifies : A place of prayer during an 'id, and of gathering of Muslims in praise of the Praised one. Musallā-i-Shiraz signifies : : (a) Name of a temple, quarter of a mile west of the Ḥāfiziya.' (b) A place of witty ones and of pure ones; in spring-time, the meeting-place of friends. ab-i-Ruknabād va Musallā signifies : the broad surface of the world, which is the place of acquisition of precious stages; and the place of discovery of lofty ascents. O Murshid! Explain Love, and increase its delight in my heart; for, the world's surface is the place of acquisition of the object (God), and of discovery of the way to salvation. For in Paradise, thou wilt not have the water of Ruknabād, nor the rose-garden of Musalla (i.e., the world, which is the stage of increase of Love; of delight, and of desire of people of Love). 3. lüliyān signifies : (a) Minstrels (of the nomad tribe, Lūli) that, like accursed ones, are the skirt-seizers of holy Travellers. (b) Lovely ones. (c) manifestations (except those of the Merciful God) of glories such as the splendours of the elements (fire, earth, air, water), of angels, and of the like. (d) A lovely woman, Shākh-i-nabāt (branch of sugarcane), who snatched the heart of Hafiz in the vigour of his youth. After Hafiz had endured the pain of separation, she desired union with him. Hafiz held himself back; and beheld the door of divine knowledge open to his heart. Khwan-i-yaghma (the tray of plunder) signifies the following custom : Once a year, on an appointed day, they take to the desert abundance of victuals and all kinds of cooked food; and give it as plunder to the Chief of the tribe (Türk). From all sides, they come and take it in plunder; for plunder is the power of the soul of the men of Turkistān. Cry saying-the illusory beloved ones (lovely women) by manifestations of unequalled glories (which are the glories of splendour exterior to God) have so ravished our heart, and made it so void of ease and rest that the path of Love (for God) hath become impossible, and the broad way become insufficient. They have borne off patience from the heart, as the men of Turkistān expertly and quickly plunder the tray. 4. Of our incomplete (imperfect) Love, not in need is the beauty of the true Beloved. For that is at the stage of lustre, colour, mole, and tricked line (of eyebrow). In the opinion of Lords of Vision and of the Companions of Mystery it is established that the Lover's love is the increaser of the Beloved's beauty. One having black eyelashes hath no need of kuḥl. See the Ķuran lii. 20. G 5. By reason of that beauty, daily increasing that Yusuf (the absolute Existence, the real Beloved, God) had, I (the first day) knew that Love for Him would bring Zulaikha (us, things possible) forth from the screen of chastity (the pure existence of God). The tale of minstrel and of wine (of Love) utter; little seek the mystery of time; For this mystery, none solved by skill (thought and knowledge); and shall not solve. O Soul! Hear the counsel (of the Murshid). For, dearer than the soul, hold happy youths the counsel of the wise old man. nā-tamām (incomplete) signifies: Endless. If it signify "incomplete," the verse is meaningless. It is not worthy of the Essayer of Vision that, love reached only the lot of man out of all created beings. The love of man is "imperfect ;" See Ode 186, couplets 1, 2. ab signifies : powder for the complexion. surkh-ab is rouge. The women of Persia make moles : (a) (temporary) with pitch and oxide of antimony. (b) (permanent) with chelidonium (zard-chub) and charcoal. 5. For Lovers, it is proper to mention the name of the Beloved whose beauty is peerless; and to preserve Love for their own Beloved. In the world of non-existence and possibility, when I beheld the splendour of true beauty with different qualities, I knew for certain that Love would take us out of the ambush. "He loveth them; and Him, they love." and, out of the screen of protection,— "He seeth them; and Him, they see." and it will confine us, for the sake of temptation, in this prison of the world. Zulaikha was the wife of Potiphar. See Genesis xxxix. 6. In reply to verses 3 and 4; and after reproach for revealing the mysteries of Love, which is improper on the part of the holy Traveller, the Sāķi saith : What befell thee that thou revealedest the great mysteries; and castedest thyself into calamity and distress? "Utter the tale of Minstrel and of Wine "-(that is, utter it on the Murshid's part) and give explanation of divine knowledge of Truths. This couplet refers to God's question: (alastu bi-rabbi-kum) Am I not your God? and to our reply (balā) yes. See Ode 43, c. 5. 7. This couplet may refer to couplet 6. (O murshid!) thou (to amend my work) spakest ill of me; and I am happy. God Most High forgive thee thou spakest well: The bitter reply suiteth the ruddy lip, sugar-eating. Thou utteredest a ghazal; and threadedest pearls (of verse). Hafiz! come and sweetly sing That, on thy verse, the sky may scatter (in thanks) the cluster of the Pleiades. 8. Whoever hath the rank of a path-shower rebuke on his part is well. For, from the lip, sugar-eating, by reason of its sweetness, the bitter reply bitter doth not seem. Thou speakest ill of me, yet I am happy; for the Arab proverb; "The friend's blow is sweet causeth forgiveness. The Sāki rebuked, in answer to the preceding questions; turned away from the repetition of the questions; and, at last, responded in that unfit to be uttered. What lovely ones do, cometh well. This couplet may be addressed to the Sāki, to whom in perturbation he had spoken (couplets 1, 2, 3, and 5). Sir W. Jones made a translation of this Ode,-expanding the eighteen lines of the original Persian into fifty-four lines of English; and giving neither the metre, nor the rhyme, nor the sense. The translation appeared in his Works, Vol. iv (p. 449); in his Persian Grammar (3rd Edition); and in his Poems and Translations. In his "Notices of Persian Poets" (p. 359), Sir Gore Ousely speaks of its as "an elegant translation." This translation is given below :— 9, (12). 1. O breeze! with softness speak to the beautiful fawn (the murshid), Saying:-Thou hast given to us desire for the mountain and the desert (the hardship and pain of separation). The sugar-seller (the murshid, seller of the sugar of Divine knowledge),-whose life be long!-why Maketh he no inquiry of the welfare of the parrot (Hafiz, the disciple) sugar of divine knowledge) devouring? (O murshid!) when thou sittest with the beloved (Muḥammad); and drinkest wine (the acquisition of divine bounty), Bring to mind the beloved ones, wind-measuring (astonied and bewildered). O rose (murshid, beautiful as the rose)! perhaps the pride of beauty hath not given thee permission. That thou makest no inquiry as to the state (full of grief, void of hypocrisy) of the distraught nightingale (Ḥāfiz). 5. By beauty of disposition, people of vision one can captivate: Not by snare and net, take they the wise bird. I know not why the colour of constancy, they have not Those straight of stature, dark of eye, moon of face (the prophets in the garden of the shar'). Of defect in thy beauty, one cannot speak save to this degree That the way of love and of constancy belongeth not to the lovely face. In thanks for the society of companions, and the friendship of fortune,- 1. The fawn may be Muḥammad. 2. Couplet 4 is the answer to c. 2. 6. They call one "dark of eye" inconstant. Having come to the stage of astonishment ard pertur. bation, Hafiz saith : Towards the lovers of the strong religion (Islām) and towards 'the seekers of the knowledge of certainty, I know not why fidelity is not in those cypress of stature, moon of face. This and c. 7 are in respect of illusory beloved ones (lovely women, by way of advice), that men, knowing their inconstancy, should take no delight in them, nor to them give their heart; but should incline to the true Beloved (God). 8. This referreth to c. I. |