Ghazal 137

From the Divan of Hafez · 8 couplets

The Oracle Speaks

...

She stole my heart and hid her face from me —

for God's sake, with whom can one play this game?

On the night of my solitude she intended my life —

her image performed boundless kindnesses.

Why should my heart not be blood-stained like a tulip?

For her narcissus eye treated us with disdain.

To whom shall I say that, with this soul-burning pain,

my physician set out to destroy my feeble life?

She burned me like a candle, so that over me

the flask wept and the lute cried out.

O breeze, if you have a remedy, now is the time —

for the pain of longing intends to take my life.

Among the tender-hearted, how can one say

that our beloved spoke thus and did thus?

The enemy did not do to Hafez's soul

what the arrow of that bow-browed one's eye did.

دل از من بُرد و روی از من نهان کرد

خدا را با که این بازی توان کرد

شب تنهاییَم در قصدِ جان بود

خیالش لطف‌هایِ بی‌کران کرد

چرا چون لاله خونین دل نباشم؟

که با ما نرگسِ او سر گران کرد

که را گویم که با این دردِ جان‌سوز

طبیبم قصدِ جانِ ناتوان کرد

بدان سان سوخت چون شمعم که بر من

صُراحی گریه و بَربَط فغان کرد

صبا گر چاره داری وقت، وقت است

که دردِ اشتیاقم قصدِ جان کرد

میان مهربانان کی توان گفت؟

که یارِ ما چُنین گفت و چُنان کرد

عدو با جانِ حافظ آن نکردی

که تیرِ چشمِ آن ابروکمان کرد

Source: Ganjoor.net

Reflect on This Poem

If this ghazal appeared as your reading today, consider:

  • Which line stirred something in you — comfort, longing, or unease?
  • What question were you holding when you arrived at this page?
  • What is this poem asking you to release or embrace?

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