Tag Archives: Hafez

Cristina Branco and Hafez

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Cristina Branco

“Vida Triste”

Translation:

Condemned to live sad
Is he who loves much.
You, my heart, never withstood
The love that the pain inflames.

Again my tortured heart
Sought shelter in thy breast, uselessly;
No one will console the burning thirst
Nor is it is satisfied with the delights of passion.

And always, for any act,
There is a price of suffering,
Until the sweetness of the last touch
Eventually dies in regret.

And like the bodies snared
One day everything goes and there is only loneliness.
Perhaps will there be someone to kill
the fire of this damned passion?
I know love is a sin
So I  also cursed the heavens
that I was tied for life
to one who deceived me

Love never failed me
With tenderness and embraces
But freed my longings,
Never such remembered.

And always, for any act,
There is a price of suffering,
Until the sweetness of the last touch
Eventually dies in regret.

And like the bodies snared
One day everything goes and there is only loneliness.
Perhaps will there be someone to kill
the fire of this damned passion?

 

 

Original:

Condenado a viver triste
É sina de quem muito ama.
Nunca tu, meu coração, resististe
Ao amor que a dor inflama.

Mais uma vez meu torturado coração
Buscou abrigo no teu peito, inutilmente;
Não há quem lhe console a sede ardente
Nem ele se farta das delícias da paixão.

E sempre, para qualquer acto,
Há que pagar com o sofrimento,
Até que a doçura do último tacto
Acabe por morrer num lamento.

Por mais que os corpos se enlacem
Um dia tudo passa e só fica a solidão.
Haverá porventura alguém
que mate o fogo de tão maldita paixão?
Eu sei que amar é pecado
Por isso também a mim o céu castigou
Fiquei pra vida amarrado
A quem sempre me enganou

Jamais o amor me faltou
Com ternuras e afagos
Mas libertar meus anseios,
Nunca de tal se lembrou.

E sempre, para qualquer acto,
Há que pagar com o sofrimento
Até que a doçura do último tacto
Acabe por morrer num lamento.

Por mais que os corpos se enlacem,
Um dia tudo passa e só fica a solidão.
Haverá alguém capaz de matar
O fogo de tão maldita paixão?

Hafez

Translation:

I am the friend of the sweet face, and of the heart-snatching hair
I’m infatuated with the intoxicated eye and pure, unmixed wine

 

You asked, “Say one word about the secret of the covenant of Alast.”
“Once I’ve drunk two cups of wine, then I’ll tell you,” I replied.

 

I am the Paradisal Adam, but in this worldly journey
Now I’m a captive of the beauty of youth

 

In love, there is no escape from pain and suffering
I am standing like the candle, don’t try to scare me with fire

 

Shiraz is the mine of ruby lips and the quarry of beauty
Because of that, a poor jeweler like me is so distraught

 

I’ve seen so many drunken eyes in this city, I think
 I’m tipsy, although I’ve had nothing to drink

 

From all six directions, it is a city full of lovely glances
And I’ve nothing if I don’t buy all six of them

 

If Fortune should be so kind as to guide me to the Friend
Even the Houri’s hair will sweep the sweet dust from off my bed

 

Hafiz, my nature’s like a radiant, hopeful bride
But no mirror have I to see myself, and because of that I sigh

Dick Davis’ translation:

My love’s for pretty faces,
For heart-bewitching hair;
I’m crazy for good wine,
A languorous, drunk stare …

In love there’s no escaping
The burning of desire;
I stand here like a candle –
Don’t scare me with your fire.

I am a man from heaven,
But on this path I see
My love of youth and beauty
Have made a slave of me.

If Fate will help me, I
Will take myself elsewhere –
My bed will be swept clean
By some sweet houri’s hair.

Shiraz is like a mine
Of ruby lips, a store
Of loveliness … and I’m
A jeweler who’s dirt-poor.

I’ve seen so many drunk
Eyes in this town, I think
I’m drunk, although I swear
I’ve had no wine to drink.

You asked me to explain
Eternity for you –
Well certainly, when I
Have downed a drink or two.

Hafez, my nature’s like
A hopeful bride, but I
Lack mirrors to array
Myself – that’s why I sigh.

Original:

         من دوستدار روی خوش و موی دلکشم

مدهوش چشم مست و می صاف بی‌غشم

         گفتی ز سر عهد ازل یک سخن بگو

آن گه بگویمت که دو پیمانه درکشم

         من آدم بهشتیم اما در این سفر

حالی اسیر عشق جوانان مه وشم

         در عاشقی گزیر نباشد ز ساز و سوز

استاده‌ام چو شمع مترسان ز آتشم

         شیراز معدن لب لعل است و کان حسن

من جوهری مفلسم ایرا مشوشم

         از بس که چشم مست در این شهر دیده‌ام

حقا که می نمی‌خورم اکنون و سرخوشم

         شهریست پر کرشمه حوران ز شش جهت

چیزیم نیست ور نه خریدار هر ششم

         بخت ار مدد دهد که کشم رخت سوی دوست

گیسوی حور گرد فشاند ز مفرشم

         حافظ عروس طبع مرا جلوه آرزوست

آیینه‌ای ندارم از آن آه می‌کشم

Hafez on Laylat al-Qadr

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Translation:

 

Last night, at the moment of dawn, they saved me from sorrow
And in the darkness of night, they gave me the water of life
By the rays of the light of the Essence they made me selfless
They gave me wine from the cup of the radiance of the Attributes
What a blessed dawn it was, and what an auspicious night
That night of destiny, when they gave me a new fate
From now on, it’s just my face and the mirror, reflecting beauty
Since on that night they brought me news from the unveiling of the Essence
It’s no wonder that I achieved my desire and my heart became happy
I was a beggar, and they gave me this as alms
That day, the secret voice gave me the good news of this kingdom
that gave me patience and steadiness in the face of pain and suffering
All this honey and sugar which comes from my speech
is the reward of my patience in [the trials of love] that they gave me in the form of my Beloved (Shakh Nabat)
It was because of Hafez’s zeal and the breath of those who rise at dawn
that they saved me from the chains of the sorrows of fate

 

 

Original:
                دوش وقت سحر از غصه نجاتم دادند
واندر آن ظلمت شب آب حیاتم دادند
               بیخود از شعشعه پرتو ذاتم کردند
باده از جام تجلی صفاتم دادند
              چه مبارک سحری بود و چه فرخنده شبی
آن شب قدر که این تازه براتم دادند
               بعد از این روی من و آینه وصف جمال
که در آن جا خبر از جلوه ذاتم دادند
                من اگر کامروا گشتم و خوشدل چه عجب
مستحق بودم و این‌ها به زکاتم دادند
                 هاتف آن روز به من مژده این دولت داد
که بدان جور و جفا صبر و ثباتم دادند
                 این همه شهد و شکر کز سخنم می‌ریزد
اجر صبریست کز آن شاخ نباتم دادند
                 همت حافظ و انفاس سحرخیزان بود
که ز بند غم ایام نجاتم دادند

 

Hafez on Ramadan

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Translation:
 In the month of Sha’aban, do not neglect the glass of wine
This sun will disappear untl the ‘Eid of Ramadan

 

Original:

ماه شعبان منه از دست قدح کاین خورشید                   از نظر تا شب عید رمضان خواهد شد

 

 Translation:
 Come back and be the dear friend of my squeezed heart
Be the intimate of the secrets of this poor love-crazed one
That wine which they sell in the tavern of love
Give me two or three cups and say “It’s Ramadan!”

 

Original:
               بازآی و دل تنگ مرا مونس جان باش
وین سوخته را محرم اسرار نهان باش
                    زان باده که در میکده عشق فروشند
ما را دو سه ساغر بده و گو رمضان باش

 

Translation:
That wine of love which ripens the immature
Although it is the month of Ramadan, bring me a cup of it

 

Original:
                      زان می عشق کز او پخته شود هر خامی
گر چه ماه رمضان است بیاور جامی

Hafez: We are Red Lions, Black Cobras

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A new favorite from Hafez…

Translation:

 

Although we are the king’s slaves
We are the sovereigns of the kingdom of the dawn

 

With treasure in our sleeves and holes in our pockets
We are the surface of the world-seeing cup and the dust of the road

 

Awake with presence, yet drunk with pride,
We are the ocean of unity, yet drowning in sin

 

Lady luck, when she flirts
we are the mirror for her moon-like face

 

For the fortunate king, each night
we guard his crown and diadem

 

Tell him to be grateful for our conversation,
“For while you sleep, we are standing guard.”

 

Shah Mansur knows that
wherever we go

 

We make a shroud of blood for our enemies
and give the mantle of victory to our friends

 

There is no tint of hypocrisy in us
We are red lions and black cobras

 

Tell them to pay their debt to Hafez
You’ve admitted it, and we’ve witnessed it

 

Original:

               گر چه ما بندگان پادشهیم
پادشاهان ملک صبحگهیم
             گنج در آستین و کیسه تهی
جام گیتی نما و خاک رهیم
       هوشیار حضور و مست غرور
بحر توحید و غرقه گنهیم
           شاهد بخت چون کرشمه کند
ماش آیینه رخ چو مهیم
            شاه بیدار بخت را هر شب
ما نگهبان افسر و کلهیم
           گو غنیمت شمار صحبت ما
که تو در خواب و ما به دیده گهیم
           شاه منصور واقف است که ما
روی همت به هر کجا که نهیم
           دشمنان را ز خون کفن سازیم
دوستان را قبای فتح دهیم
           رنگ تزویر پیش ما نبود
شیر سرخیم و افعی سیهیم
           وام حافظ بگو که بازدهند
کرده‌ای اعتراف و ما گوهیم

 

lyris aside, this music seems to say the same thing to me:

 

 

 

 

Hafez says, “Shatter”

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Translation:

 

Give us love’s flirtatious look and shatter sorcery’s bazaar
With but a seductive glance, shatter wealthy Samer’s law
Give both the head and turban of the whole world to the wind
That is, let your hair down, let the heart-breaking begin
Tell the lock of hair to give up its bold arrogance
“Shatter the cruel heart,” tell the flirting glance
Come out and steal the ball of beauty from every last player
Beat the houris and the glory of the angels shatter
With your doe-eyes, steal the glance of the sun’s lion
With your curved eyebrows, shatter the bow of jupiter
When with the breath of wind, the flowers sweetly bloom
Shatter their worth with your locks of hair’s amber perfume
When the nightingale boasts of being in eloquence, first
O Hafez, shatter his rank, by reciting Persian verse

 

غزل 399- 

 

Original:

 

کرشمه‌ای کن و بازار ساحری بشکن            به غمزه رونق و ناموس سامری بشکن
به باد ده سر و دستار عالمی یعنی                      کلاه گوشه به آیین دلبرری بشکن
به زلف گوی که آیین دلبری بگذار               به غمزه گوی که قلب ستمگری بشکن
برون خرام و ببر گوی خوبی از همه کس               سزای حور بده رونق پری بشکن
به آهوان نظر شیر آفتاب بگیر                         به ابروان دوتا قوس مشتری بشکن
چو عطرسای شود زلف سنبل از دم باد              تو قیمتش به سر زلف عنبری بشکن
چو عندلیب فصاحت فروشد ای حافظ
تو قدر او به سخن گفتن دری بشکن

The certitude of my brightest love

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Hafez: 

I have never seen a more beautiful reminder
than the words of love that linger in this turning dome

 

         از صدای سخن عشق نديدم خوشتر
  يادگاری که در اين گنبد دوار بماند

 

Cristina Branco:

 

The certitude of my brightest love

The certitude of my brightest love
I am going to light up, should there be no moonlight tomorrow
And I will gather from a firefly a lonely glow
That the good bug may forgive me for this theft

Whistling the melodies ever more beautiful
And describing the cities I’ve seen
Of men and fossils and their gestures as written
Of good and evil, peace, calm and tumult

If I am alone it is in an alley that I meet myself
I go door to door asking who saw me
If I lived there, if I was the same and at what point
My desire packed its bags and fled.

Whistling the melody ever more beautiful
The certainty of my brightest love
Of the feeling among the others the favourite
That is to see the rose with time gain colour.

Whistling the melodies ever more brilliant
As brilliant from the certainty of a love
As the ruby most precious among others
That is of tenderness alternating with ardour.

I will not deny staying thus in this beauty
Whistling the melodies ever more fleeting
It is not possible nor is it simple, for sure
But it is will that gives me what I am doing.

Translation from: http://lyricstranslate.com

As Certezas do Meu Mais Brilhante Amor

As certezas do meu mais brilhante amor
Vou acender, que amanhã não há luar
E eu colherei do pirilampo um só fulgor
Que me perdoe o bom bichinho de o roubar

Assobiando as melodias mais bonitas
E das cidades descrevendo o que já vi
Homens e fósseis e seus gestos como escritas
Do bem e do mal, a paz a calma e frenesi

Se estou sozinho é num beco que me encontro
Vou porta a porta perguntando a quem me viu
Se ali morei, se eu era o mesmo e em que ponto
O meu desejo fez as malas e fugiu

Assobiando a melodia mais bonita
A da certeza do meu mais brilhante amor
Da sensação de entre as demais a favorita
Que é ver a rosa com o tempo a ganhar cor

Assobiando as melodias mais brilhantes
Como o brilhante da certeza de um amor
Como o rubi mais precioso entre os restantes
Que é o da meiguice alternando com ardor

Não negarei ficar assim nesta beleza
Assobiando as melodias mais fugazes
Não é possível nem é simples, com certeza
Mas é vontade que me dá do que me fazes

Love’s Ocean Has No Shore…

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Say: Were the ocean ink for the Words of my Lord (to be written out), sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the Words of my Lord, even if We added another ocean like it, for its aid.
-Surah Kahf: 109
 
Sarmad:
The ocean of his generosity has no shore.
The tongue is powerless to thank,
the heart too bewildered to understand.
Though my sins are many
his compassion is greater still–
I swim in the sea of disobedience
but I do not drown.
— from Sarmad: Martyr to Love Divine, by Isaac Ezekiel

Hafez :

The sea of love is a sea that has no shore.
There, you can only give up your soul.
Each time you give your heart to love is a joyous moment.
For auspicious deeds there is no need for divination.
Avail yourself of the rend’s way, for this mark,
like the road to buried treasure, is not plain to everyone.

Don’t frighten us with reason’s prohibitions, and bring wine,
for that watchman has no authority in our province.

One can see him with a pure eye, like the new moon.
Not every eye can hold that crescent’s beauty.

Ask your own eyes who is killing us, O soul,
it is not the sin of ascendants and the crime of stars.

You are unaffected by the cry of Hafiz.
I am perplexed at that heart, hard as granite.

Translation:
Elizabeth Gray, The Green Sea of Heaven

 

Original:

بحریست بحر عشق که هیچش کناره نیست
آن جا جز آن که جان بسپارند چاره نیست
هر گه که دل به عشق دهی خوش دمی بود
در کار خیر حاجت هیچ استخاره نیست
ما را به منع عقل مترسان و می بیار
کان شحنه در ولایت ما هیچ کاره نیست
از چشم خود بپرس که ما را که می‌کشد
جانا گناه طالع و جرم ستاره نیست
او را به چشم پاک توان دید چون هلال
هر دیده جای جلوه آن ماه پاره نیست
فرصت شمر طریقه رندی که این نشان
چون راه گنج بر همه کس آشکاره نیست
نگرفت در تو گریه حافظ، به هیچ رو
حیران آن دلم که کم از سنگ خاره نیست

Rumi:
If there is no sign of you in someone
گر خورشیدست آن ندارد
Even if they are
shining like the sun,
they still don’t have
That (secret element)!
ما بر در و بام عشق حیران
We stand
raptured in awe
at the gates
and on the roof
of loveآن بام که نردبان ندارد
An inaccessible roof
With no ladder

دل چون چنگست و عشق زخمه
The heart is a harp
And love the player
پس دل به چه دل فغان ندارد
Who cannot feel emotions
Of longing when you hear it played?
امروز فغان عاشقان را

بشنو که تو را زیان نداردهر ذره پر از فغان و نالهست
Every particle of the lovers being is shouting
اما چه کند زیان ندارد
And behold there is no hurt involved
رقص است زبان ذره زیرا
Dance is the speech of the moon’s atoms
جز رقص دگر بیان ندارد
Other than dance it has no other expression
هر سو نگران تست دلها
وان سو که تویی گمان ندارد
این عالم را کرانهای هست
This world does have a boundary
عشق من و تو کران ندارد
The love of me and you has none
مانند خیال تو ندیدم
I have never seen anything like the thought of You
بوسه دهد و دهان ندارد
Which gives kisses without having a mouth
ماننده غمزهات ندیدم
I have not seen the likeness of your coyness
تیر اندازد کمان ندارد
Which shoots arrows but has no bow
دادی کمری که بر میان بند
طفل دل من میان ندارد
گفتی که به سوی ما روان شو
بی لطف تو جان روان ندارد
Ibn ‘Arabi
I marveled at an Ocean without shore,
and at a Shore that did not have an ocean;
And at a Morning Light without darkness,
and at a Night that was without daybreak;
And then a Sphere with no locality
known to either fool or learned scholar;
And at an azure Dome raised over the earth,
circulating ’round its center – Compulsion;
And at a rich Earth without o’er-arching vault
and no specific location, the Secret concealed…

Hafez’s falcons

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From the Nightingale in the garden, ask the news.  for I
Hear his lament that forth from the cage comes
Friends!  The true Beloved desires the prey of Hafez’s heart:
For the prey of a little fly, a great falcon comes.

Translation: H. Wilberforce Clarke

 

Original:

خبر بلبل این باغ بپرسید که من

ناله‌ای می‌شنوم کز قفسی می‌آید
                    یار دارد سر صید دل حافظ یاران
شاهبازی به شکار مگسی می‌آید

 

 

O royal falcon of keen vision, perched in Heaven’s tree,
your nest is not this corner filled with suffering.
They whistle to recall you to the battlements of heaven.
I don’t understand what has ensnared you here.

Original:

             که ای بلندنظر شاهباز سدره نشین
نشیمن تو نه این کنج محنت آبادست
           تو را ز کنگره عرش می‌زنند صفیر
ندانمت که در این دامگه چه افتادست

What sugar there is in this town, that the Falcons of the Way
became satisfied with the station of a mere fly

 

Original:

                 چه شکرهاست در این شهر که قانع شده‌اند
 شاهبازان طریقت به مقام مگسی

The Alif

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Listen: Hafez ghazal

 

I speak frankly and that makes me happy:
I am the slave of love, I am free of both worlds.
I am a bird from heaven’s garden. How do I describe that separation,
my fall into this snare of accidents?

 

I was an angel and highest paradise was my place.
Adam brought me to this monastery in the city of ruin.
The hours’ caress, the pool and shade trees of paradise
were forgotten in the breeze from your alleyway.

 

There is nothing on the tablet of my heart but my love’s tall alif.
What can I do? My master taught me no other letter.
No astrologer knew the constellations of my fate.
O lord, when I was born of mother earth which stars were rising?

 

Ever since I became a slave at the door of love’s tavern
sorrows come to me each moment with congratulations.
The pupil of my eye drains the blood from my heart.
I deserve it. Why did I give my heart to the darling of others?
Wipe the tears from Hafiz’s face with soft curls
or else this endless torrent will uproot me.

 

Translation: Elizabeth Gray, The Green Sea of Heaven, p. 130

Original:
             فاش می‌گویم و از گفته خود دلـشادم
بـنده عشقـم و از هر دو جهان آزادم
طایر گلشن قدسم چه دهـم شرح فراق
کـه در این دامگه حادثه چون افـتادم
مـن ملک بودم و فردوس برین جایم بود
آدم آورد در این دیر خراب آبادم
سایه طوبی و دلجویی حور و لـب حوض
بـه هوای سر کوی تو برفـت از یادم
نیسـت بر لوح دلم جز الف قامت دوست
چـه کـنـم حرف دگر یاد نداد استادم
کوکـب بخـت مرا هیچ منجم نشناخت
یا رب از مادر گیتی به چـه طالـع زادم
تا شدم حلقه به گوش در میخانه عشق
هر دم آید غمی از نو بـه مـبارک بادم
می خورد خون دلم مردمک دیده سزاست
کـه چرا دل به جگرگوشـه مردم دادم
پاک کن چهره حافظ به سر زلف ز اشـک
ور نـه این سیل دمادم بـبرد بـنیادم

Lovers never die

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Hafez:

                    هرگز نمیرد آن که دلش زنده شد به عشق

ثبت است بر جریده عالم دوام ما

He whose heart has been revived by love will never die
Our eternity has been written in the record of the world

 

Me:

Lips scalded by love’s tongues of flame
Can never taste death’s bitter pain

 

Hafez:

بگشای تربتم را بعد از وفات و بنگر

کز آتش درونم دود از کفن برآید

 

When I am dead, open my grave and see
The cloud of smoke that rises round thy feet:
In my dead heart the fire still burns for thee;
Yea, the smoke rises from my winding-sheet!

 

Translation: Gertrude Bell