(1) “In blossom is the crimson rose, and the rapt bulbul trills his song;
A summons that to revel calls you, O Ṣúfís, wine-adoring throng!

(2) The fabric of my contrite fervour appeared upon a rock to bide;
Yet see how by a crystal goblet it hath been shattered in its pride.

(3) Bring wine; for to a lofty spirit, should they at its tribunal be,
What were the sentry, what the Sultan, the toper or the foe of glee?

(4) Forth from this hostel of two portals as finally thou needst must go,
What if the porch and arch of Being be of high span or meanly low?

(5) To bliss's goal we gain not access, if sorrow has been tasted not;
Yea, with Alastu's * pact was coupled the sentence of our baleful lot.

(6) At Being and Not-being fret not, but either with calm temper see:
Not-being is the term appointed for the most lovely things that be.

(7) Áṣaf's display, the airy courser, the language which the birds em-
ployed,
The wind has swept; and their possessor no profit from his wealth
enjoyed. * (8) Oh! fly not from thy pathway upward, for the winged shaft that
quits the bow
A moment to the air has taken, to settle in the dust below.

(9)	What words of gratitude, O Ḥáfiẓ,
	Shall thy reed's tongue express anon,
	As its choice gems of composition
	From hands to other hands pass on?”

(1) “Aflame with bloom is the red rose, the bulbul drunk with Spring;
What ho, adorers of Wine! Hear the call to mirth that they fling.

(2) The corner-stone of repentance that seemed a rock firm-set
Is rent and riven asunder by touch of glasses a-ring.

(3) Fill high the bowl with the red wine, for here is Liberty Hall,
The sage is one with the toper, the ploughman e'en as the king.

(4) From out this Hostel of Two Doors the signal calls us away,
Alike if low be the roof-tree or lofty dome upspring.

(5) We conquer only through anguish the resting-place of delight;
To life, by bond of Alast-vow, the long ‘Alas’ must cling. * (6) With IS and IS NOT annoy not thy heart; be merry of soul,
For IS NOT is but the last end of every perfect thing.

(7) The fame of Asaph, the wind-steed, the speech with birds of the air
As wind have passed; to their master no more avail shall they
bring.

(8) No pinion heavenward soaring desire; the arrow aloft
Shall sink to dust in the end, howsoe'er it leap on the wing.

(9) What thanks and praises, O ḤÁFIẒ, shall yield the tongue of thy
pen,
That all the songs of thy singing from mouth to mouth men sing?”

(1) “The rose has flushed red, the bud has burst,
And drunk with joy is the nightingale—
Hail, Ṣúfís, lovers of wine, all hail!
For wine is proclaimed to a world athirst.

(2) Like a rock your repentance seemed to you;
Behold the marvel! Of what avail
Was your rock, for a goblet has cleft it in two!

(3) Bring wine for the King and the slave at the gate!
Alike for all is the banquet spread,
And drunk and sober are warmed and fed.

(4) When the feast is done and the night grows late,
And the second door of the tavern gapes wide,
The low and the mighty must bow the head
'Neath the archway of Life, to meet what…outside?

(5) Except thy road through affliction pass,
None may reach the halting-station of mirth;
God's treaty: Am I not Lord of the earth?
Man sealed with a sigh: Ah yes, alas!

(6) Nor with IS nor IS NOT let thy mind contend;
Rest assured all perfection of mortal birth
In the great IS NOT at the last shall end.

(7) For Assaf's pomp, and the steeds of the wind,
And the speech of birds down the wind have fled,
And he that was lord of them all is dead;
Of his mastery nothing remains behind.

(8) Shoot not thy feathered arrow astray!
A bow-shot's length through the air it has sped,
And then…dropped down in the dusty way.

(9) But to thee, oh Ḥáfiẓ, to thee, oh tongue
That speaks through the mouth of the slender reed,
What thanks to thee when thy verses speed
From lip to lip, and the song thou hast sung?”

This one example of three parallel translations will suffice to show generally the style of work of the three translators. Miss Bell's is the least literal, but by far the most poetical, and is a wonderful interpretation of the spirit of the original. Walter Leaf aims especially at exactly reproducing the form (both as regards rhyme and metre), as well as the sense, of the original. Herman Bicknell steers a middle course, making each verse of his translation correspond with its original, but not attempting to preserve the same rhyme throughout the poem.

In view of these and other excellent translations of Ḥáfiẓ into verse and prose in English and other European languages, I will content myself with quoting here the renderings by Miss Bell and Herman Bicknell of one more ode of Ḥáfiẓ, which has a certain special interest because it is engraved on his tombstone, * and which begins:

<text in Arabic script omitted>

“Where doth Thy love's glad message echo for my rapt soul
To rise?
This sacred bird from the world's meshes yearns to its goal
To rise.
I swear, wilt Thou Thy servant name me, by all my love sublime
Higher than my desire of lordship o'er space and time
To rise.
Vouchsafe, Lord, from Thy cloud of guidance to pour on me Thy
rain,
Ere Thou command me as an atom from man's domain
To rise.
Bring minstrels and the wine-cup with thee, or at my tomb ne'er sit:
Permit me in thy perfume dancing from the grave's pit
To rise.
Though I am old, embrace me closely, be it a single night:
May I, made young by thy caresses, at morn have might
To rise!

Arouse thee! show thy lofty stature,
Idol of winning mien:
Enable me, as soul-reft Ḥáfiẓ,
From Nature's scene
To rise!”

“Where are the tidings of union? that I may arise—
Forth from the dust I will rise up to welcome thee!
My soul, like a homing bird, yearning for Paradise,
Shall arise and soar, from the snares of the world set free.
When the voice of love shall call me to be thy slave,
I shall rise to a greater far than the mastery
Of life and the living, time and the mortal span:
Pour down, oh Lord! from the clouds of Thy guiding grace
The rain of a mercy that quickeneth on my grave,
Before, like dust that the wind bears from place to place,
I arise and flee beyond the knowledge of man.
When to my grave thou turnest thy blessed feet,
Wine and the lute shalt thou bring in thy hand to me,
Thy voice shall ring through the folds of my winding-sheet,
And I will arise and dance to thy minstrelsy.
Though I be old, clasp me one night to thy breast,
And I, when the dawn shall come to awaken me,
With the flash of youth on my cheek from thy bosom will rise.

<graphic>

THE TOMB OF ḤÁFIẒ AT SHÍRÁZ
By kind permission of Professor A. V. Williams Jackson and Messrs Macmillan
To face p. 310

Rise up! let mine eyes delight in thy stately grace!
Thou art the goal to which all men's endeavour has pressed,
And thou the idol of Ḥáfiẓ's worship; thy face
From the world and life shall bid him come forth and arise!”

The tomb of Ḥáfiẓ is in a beautiful garden, called after him the “Ḥáfiẓiyya,” situated near Shíráz. It was much The tomb of Ḥáfiẓ beautified by Abu'l-Qásim Bábur, * the great-grandson of Tímúr, when he conquered Shíráz in 856/1452, the work being entrusted by him to Mawláná Muḥammad Mu'ammá'í. * At a later date (1226/1811) it was further embellished by Karím Khán­i-Zand, one of the best rulers that Persia has ever had, * by whom the present tombstone, a slab of fine alabaster, was contributed. The Ḥáfiẓiyya is much honoured and much frequented by the people of Shíráz and by visitors to that city, and the poet's grave is surrounded by the graves of many others who have sought proximity to those illustrious ashes, so that his own words have been fulfilled when he said:

<text in Arabic script omitted>

“When thou passest by our tomb, seek a blessing, for it shall be­come a place of pilgrimage for the libertines of all the world.”

Before passing on to the mention of other poets, some­thing must be said as to the practice of taking an augury Taking auguries from the Díwán of Ḥáfiẓ (tafá'ul) from the Díwán of Ḥáfiẓ which is so prevalent in Persia, where the only other book used for this purpose (and that much more rarely) is the Qur'án itself, just as the ancient Romans used to use Vergil (Sortes Vergilianœ). It has been already mentioned that Ḥáfiẓ is often entitled Lisánu'l-Ghayb (“The Tongue of the Unseen”) and Tarjumánu'l-Asrár (“The Interpreter of Mysteries”), and it is generally be­lieved by his fellow-countrymen that, in case of doubt as to the course of action to be pursued, valuable indications may be obtained by opening the Díwán at random, after the utterance of suitable invocations, and taking either the first verse on which the eye falls, or the last ode on the open page, with the first line of the succeeding ode. Tables, called Fál-náma, comprising a number of squares (always a multiple of some number such as 7 or 9) each containing one letter are also employed for the same purpose; and one of these, with instructions for its use, is often prefixed to Oriental editions of the Díwán. * These tables, however, in spite of their mysterious and impressive appearance, only give a very limited number of answers—seven when the squares are a multiple of seven, nine when they are a multiple of nine, and so on; and as Lane has well observed, in speaking of similar squares used by the Egyptians, in consequence of the view prevailing in the East generally that, if in doubt, it is better, as a rule, to refrain from action, a majority of the answers provided for are generally distinctly discouraging or of a negative character, and only a few encouraging.

The table referred to in the last foot-note comprises 15 × 15 = 225 squares, each containing one letter. Nine Analysis of a fál-náma hemistichs each containing 25 letters are chosen (9 × 25 also = 225). In the first square is placed the first letter of the first hemistich; in the second square the first letter of the second hemistich, and so on to the ninth square, in which is placed the first letter of the ninth hemistich. Next follow the second letters of each hemistich in the same order, the second letter of the first hemistich in the tenth square, the second letter of the second hemistich in the eleventh square, and so on, until the table concludes at the 225th square with the last (25th) letter of the last (ninth) hemistich. In using the table, the finger is placed at random on one of the 225 squares, and the letter it contains is written down, and after it, in a circle, the 24 letters obtained by taking each 9th square from the point of departure until the cycle is completed. By beginning at the proper point, these 25 letters give the first hemistich of one of the odes, which can then be readily found in the Díwán. The table in question gives the following nine hemistichs, to each of which I have added the second hemistich (not included in the table, but needed to complete the verse), the reference to Rosenzweig's edition, and the English translation.