Gyric poems of Ha'fez

For years, to the red wine, my heart was bound
The Tavern became alive with my prayer and my sound.
See the Old Magi's goodness, with us, the drunks,
Saw whatever we did, in everyone beauty had found.
Wash away all our knowledge with red wine,
Firmaments, themselves, the knowing minds hound.
Seek that from idols, O knowing heart,
Said the one whose insights, his knowledge crowned.
My heart, like a compass, goes round and round,
I'm lost in that circle, with foot firmly on the ground.
Minstrel did what he did from pain of Love,
Lashes of wise-of-the-world in their bloody tears have drowned.
With joy my heart bloomed, like that flower by the stream
Under the shade of that tall spruce, myself, I found.
My colorful wise Master, in my dealings with the black robes,
My meanness checked and bound, else my stories would astound.
Hafiz's cloudy heart in this trade was not spent,
This merchant saw and heard every hidden sight and sound.

Happy days were when your hand was by my side,
Signs of your love, my features beautified.
Happy days were when your words crucified,
Then my soul resurrected, upward glide.
Happy days were when the wine, we glorified,
God was with me while by my side was my bride.
Happy days were when your candle was my guide,
And my heart, like a moth, yoشur flames would ride.
Happy days were when amidst knowledge and pride
The drunken laughter was dignified.
Happy days were when we drank from the cup in our stride,
And told tales of the things that we tried.
Happy days were when Beloved would decide,
On the sun and moon, in service, relied.
Happy days in the tavern I would abide
Saw the things that from the temple would hide.
Happy days were when your signal verified;
Made the crooked straight, Hafiz, narrow, wide

As long as wine and tavern are around,
Before the Master, I bow to the ground.
To the old Master, eternally I am bound,
Have always been, will always be, on this merry-go-round.
When you pass by my tomb, ask for grace,
It’s a shrine where the drunkards abound.
The self-serving pious can’t see this
That is veiled and with eyes can’t be found.
My lovely beloved left our midst on this day,
My tears ceaselessly flow, ceaselessly my chest I pound.
And when I go to sleep in my grave,
Until awakening, my concerns soul will hound.
Hafiz please help, or else fate will astound,
Beloved’s locks around arms of others may be wound.

Those who are tired may seek your aid
It is unfair if your aid is stayed.
You never mistreated us. It’s not your way.
Any such mischief, you would degrade.
Unfortunate the eyes that can’t shed tears of love,
Unhappy the hearts that candle of love barricade.
With the auspicious fly towards the light,
Leave behind bats and birds who seek the shade.
Wonder not if I sought help in the tavern,
My Master said in the temple they trade.
Without virtue, worship is idolatry,
Goodness won’t come, when virtue delayed.
Hafiz, through virtue and wisdom wade,
Else hold your tongue and remain afraid.

Till you grant my wish, I won't give up my demand
I will reach the Soul of Souls, or be buried in this land.
When I am dead and buried, open my grave and see
Smoke rising from my corps, by my inner fire fanned.
Show Thy face to the people, awe-struck and radiant
Man and woman will cry out, at Thy smallest command.
I am tired of this life, jealousy eats away my heart
Without a kiss from your lips, I end my worldly errand.
In search of those sweet lips, I have spent my whole life
Desires of the deprived, those lips will reprimand.
In the circles of the Lovers, his goodness they understand,
With reverence, Hafiz's name, they pass from hand to hand.

When the golden orb ascends from the east of the cup
A thousand tulips upon the beloved's cheeks open up
The morning breeze breaks upon the head of the bouquet
The bouquet of the bouquet will flow amidst the grass and crop.
The story of the night of separation is not that story
Of which a small account many, many books would fill up.
This poor and impoverished house of Fate can't satiate
Cry out a hundred sorrows and upon a morsel sup.
With brain and brawn cannot search for the essence
A mere fantasy, this endeavor too will flop.
If like Noah, you can patiently await the end of storm
The tides of fortune turn, and your life-long desires prop.
If the breeze of Your hair at Hafiz's tomb makes a stop
A hundred thousand tulips will adorn his grave-top.

One more breath, my fate is at stake
Alas, my good fortune does not wake.
Morning breeze blew Her dust in my eye
I cannot see from the tears and the ache.
I cannot embrace and hug your body, why?
My most ardent wishes I must break.
Only with the Beloved, I can be & can try
No other labor can I undertake.
Only from your hair some good news I can pry
Else, from strangers, there's no news I can take.
Ardently, sincerely, a thousand prayers I let fly
What use, not even one in my world I can make.
Enough sharing my heart with the morning breeze's sigh
With my luck tonight, not even the dawn will break.
I spend my whole life in pursuit till I die
Yet misfortunes of your hair I cannot shake.
Hafiz & his heart, everyone must forsake
Has hidden himself within your wave & wake.

Good news, spring is neigh and grass is green
Leave the trees and treat flowers like a queen.
Birds whistle, singing where is loon of the wine?
The nightingale cries, who painted this flowery scene?
Fruits of Paradise are tasteless for the one
Whom the face of a lover has never seen.
Complain not of the hardships on the path
Comfort comes from enduring the obscene.
Pick a flower from the face of the bearer
Violets encircle the face of the grassy green.
The bearer has stolen my heart in a way
That even conversations I now demean.
I will burn my colorful flowery robe, which
The Tavern Master with wine could not clean.
O Fair one, spring is gone, take note I mean
This wine, Hafiz, has not had a chance to glean.

Spring winds the March rain clouds feed
Excuse for drinking wine, playing the reed.
Lovers are in full glory, poor me ashamed
Burdened with indigent love, yet I accede.
Shortage of generosity, yet I keep my integrity
Pay with my gown for the wine that I need.
Please say you open up the knot that is in my affairs
Last night till time of dawn, I prayed and plead.
The smiling flower, with a thousand laughs bloomed
As though grace itself had blessed its very seed.
If I rend my shirt in my madness, so what?
Even our good name demands that we be freed.
Who speaks these tales that I tell from your lips?
Who sees your beauty's deceit and misdeed?
If the King seeks not to know of lover's state
Take heed lovers and give up your rest and greed.
Cupid's arrow, Hafiz's heart tore and cleaved
I see his verses, with their wet ink, bleed.

In the morning breeze, your scent, whoever inhaled
A close friend these familiar words, in his ear hailed;
O King of Goodness, glance at this beggar’s state
Of beggars and kings this ear heard many tales, quite detailed.
With this aromatic wine, I satisfy my soul’s appetite
I’ve seen robe wearing priests that many deceptions trailed.
God’s secrets that the godly man silently kept
How in the world the wine-seller so clearly unveiled?
O God where is the one who knows and sees
To open up the secrets that in my heart are jailed.
It was not fair to punish my godly heart
With abuse, my heart bitterly cried and wailed.
If I was deprived in my longing, say naught
Kindness of fate from this hardship, none bailed.
Come bring me wine, my love cries out loud
Heard it from ourselves, whoever our tale detailed.
This is not the first time we covertly drink the wine
Master of the tavern caught us in the act each time we exhaled.
This is not a first for drinking to the song of the harp
Many turns the Wheel of Fate this familiar turn scaled.
Advice of the wise comes from a deep goodness within
Beside the one who understood, even heavenly bliss paled.
Hafiz in duty the ocean of prayer sailed
Regardless of if his prayer was granted or failed.