Hafez Poems
A collection of select Hafez famous poems that were written by Hafez or written about the poet by other famous poets. PoetrySoup is a comprehensive educational resource of the greatest poems and poets on history.
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by
Hafez
Thus spake at dawn to the fresh-open’d rose
The courting-bird, ‘Cease thy so empty vaunt:
Comelier than thou full many each day unclose.’
She laughed:—‘In truth I care not, ne’ertheless
Strange lover thou, to use such harsh address:
No gallant vexeth beauty with such taunt.
Or ever thou receive this ruby red,
This wine, first must thy pearl’d disdainfulness
In passion’s suppliant sea its jewels shed.’
O vain it...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
In love’s great ocean, whose calm-shelter’d shore
Must he for ever leave, whose soul is bound
On farthest quest, life’s wonders to explore—
That mightiest flood, all-whelming, torment-toss’d,
Wherein must ev’ry lover’s self be lost
Ere the Belovéd’s lovelier self be found—
Think not, O searcher, in that sea to find
Food for thine earth-born strength & lustful show,
Nor glorious pearl to deck thy worldly mind,
Nor isle...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Our toil is He, & eke our journey’s end;
Our life-long ailment & our remedy,
Our foeman & our ever-pitying friend;
Who is more vanquishing than victory,
Fairer than beauty, more belov’d than life;
This is he who our peace is & our strife.
Our strenuous earth is He & eke our Heaven,
The crown of conquest & the armour riven,
The strength, the struggle, yea, the failing...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Tell me not, mournful Preacher, that to prize
Beauty of flower or song or mistress fair,
Is to forgo the sweets of Paradise.
Say not, ‘Life’s pleasance is a deathly snare:
Shun it, so would’st thou save thy soul alive;
Blind thee, & in drear temple pray & strive’.
Know thou, all gladness is God’s house of grace;
All loveliness is thy Belovéd’s face;
All beauteous earth is...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
For sake of these two splendours do the wise
Set store on riches, & for these alone:
For these two glories only do they prize
Power & majesty of kingly throne:
Or this: to succour friendship in distress,
To comfort humble sorrow, nor despise
To cheer the joyless heart of weariness,
To guard & aid whom fortune doth oppress
That he to life’s glad kingdom be restor’d
(& thus...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
She hath not beauty, that ill-fortun’d gem
Wherewith may women dazzle men’s meek eyes
Ere they enslave, un-man & slaughter them.
Nor doth she vaunt afar her heart’s hid prize,
Nor with wide-lavish’d scent of hope allure
Ere men behold her, nor with rich disguise.
Nor hath she wit, that sword wherewith to smart
Delicate souls, with flashing stroke unsure
Of sharp misprise, wounding some gentle heart.
Yet not...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Though beauty’s tress be strayed, ’tis beauteous still:
Though her bright glance should wander, though it err
& wound me, it shall be forgiven her;
Yea, lov’d is the Belovéd though she kill.
Though should love’s light’ning ravage & consume
Faith’s harvest, & the garner of the wise,
Reproach not nor upbraid her: those bright eyes
Have right all to destroy, that all illume.
Betwixt love’s roses should...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
When the strong climber his last mountain-crest
Attaineth, & the point for which he strove
Is reached, & his desire made manifest,
& seating him the topmost heights above
He gazeth on each aspect leisurely,
Considering the path by which he clomb
& which so many attempted, & how he
The first of all his race had strength to come
Unto that eminence, & how this throne
Shall men...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Wheresoever beauty flies,
Follow her on eager wings
Beauteous wild imaginings.
Wheresoever she may tread,
Lovely vivid flowers arise,
Springing swift as thoughts unsaid.
Living beauty, more than wise,
Fair art thou to living eyes,
Though less fair than is the dead
Myrtle-wreath that more we prize;
Relic of the one dear head
That for each it garlanded.
...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Go, book: go, vessel laden with the mind
That builded thee, go now & bear thy freight
Of man’s old messaging to all mankind.
Say first:—Such oft-told things as I relate,
Such pond’rous words strung on unperish’d thought,
Such pearly praises worn by countless queens,
Such temper’d swords wherewith heroes have fought,
Such sceptres that have ruled all earth’s demesnes,
Such broider’d robes, such antique jewelry,
Such orbs, such...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
When thou art gone, & when are gone all those
That knew thee & that loved thy living grace,
Merged in the formless flood whence all arose,
When thou hast passed, & of thy life no trace
Remaineth, nor remembrancer to say
‘Such was he, such his form, his voice, his face’,
In that new time shall rise, untouched by thee,
The eddying circles still, & pass...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
When sunlight faileth,
& day’s glow is gone;
When chill mist traileth
Where warm splendour shone;
When summer’s pleasure
Dieth,—dieth too
The transient treasure
That with life up-grew
& none may herit,
Where then wilt thou turn,
O vagrant spirit,
That no home didst earn;
When none replieth
Of thy friends so true,
When sweet Joy crieth
‘Adieu, love, adieu!’
...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
O youth’s young cloudlet, O freshness free,
With heart so light on the winds to fly
Or glisten in spray up-scatter’d,—I
Am sad as the full surgings of the sea;
I gave thee birth, thou shalt return to me.
Thy heart is light as the empty wind
Of barren purposeless change,—but I
Am the thought-burden’d slow-searching mind:
I am the agony to form & find;—
The fluxing travail of...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
She went.—O whither too, O one true love,
Went my sad heart, thou knowest. Lo my prayer
Followeth thee, & faith that nought may move.
With prayer I came, & now with pleading strong
I leave thee, that my flinchless trust thou share;
So shall God aid us, who to him belong.
Though all earth censure me, by Heaven I swear,
Though tyranny me test with trial...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Beauty is a waving tree,
Beauty is a flower,
Beauty is a grassy lea
& a shady bower,
Beauty is the verdant Spring
In our hearts awakening.
Beauty is a summer sun
Warming all the land,
Whose full bounty doth o’errun
More than our demand;
Spreadeth Beauty her kind feast
Lavishly for man & beast.
Autumn’s quiet hast thou too,
Beauty, who canst feed
Every craving, known or new
Of the spirit’s need,
Laying up a...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Peace, for whose presence did we erewhile call
With cry sincere, vowing (God knoweth, those
Prótests how passionate were) to love thee all,
Yet when thou camest, pander’d to thy foes
Weaklier than ever, now again the throes
Convulse our being; now, Peace, may’st thou see,
This lust-devoted land is not for thee.
Farewell! Small wonder is it if thou flee
Such faithlessness, yet doth thy memory still
Dwell...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
O youth’s young cloudlet, O freshness free,
With heart so light on the winds to fly
Or glisten in spray up-scatter’d,—I
Am sad as the full surgings of the sea;
I gave thee birth, thou shalt return to me.
Thy heart is light as the empty wind
Of barren purposeless change,—but I
Am the thought-burden’d slow-searching mind:
I am the agony to form & find;—
The fluxing travail of...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Pureness of pale moon, loneness of far skies,
Splendour of starry regions & bright sun,
Grandeur of universal vastnesses,
Sweetness of flower, staunchness of stalwart tree,
Delicacy of small verdures ev’ry one,
Loveliness of all lowly forms that be,
Gladness of ev’ry bird that gaily sings,
Ardour of eager beasts that hunt & kill,
Rapture of all life-raptur’d living things;
Yea man’s one rapture too & his life’s joy,
His...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Arise, O cup-bearer, & bring
Fresh wine for our enrapturing!
O minstrel, of our sorrow sing—
‘O joy of whose delight we dreamed,
O love that erst so easy seemed,
What toil is in thy travelling!’
How in the lov’d one’s tent can I
Have any rest or gaiety?
Ever anon the horsemen cry,
‘O lingering lover, fare thee well!’
Ever I hear the jingling bell
Of waiting steed & harnessry.
O...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
O what availeth thee thy melting mood,
Thine ecstasy
When once again thy thralldoms o’er thee brood:
& what doth profit thee thy courage high,
& strength so fain;
So soon agen thy coward heart shall fly?
For more & stronger strife our strength shall strain,
Though hope’s best good
Be but this hope: to strive, & strive again.
...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
When sorrow hath outsoar’d our nature’s clime,
Leaving it far remote &, like a strong
Eagle lone brooding on her peak sublime,
Graspeth in solitude her towering wrong;
& no more hankereth for petty prey
Nor bleeding victim wherewithal to still
Her hunger of desolate passion, but thus aye
Sitteth, devour’d by her own vital ill,
Motionless, nerveless, where for her no sound
Of life is, only the wind’s...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
I saw fair Fortune, one clear morning, touch
Like the bright-sceptred sun’s first point of scorn,
With slightest finger my full-ripen’d corn.
I glimps’d her beauty: slender was she, such
As the moon’s waning sickle, paled afar,
Or dawn’s faint star-sheaves that scarce vision’d are.
I said, ‘O my life’s crowning queen, for thee
Have I long toiled without repose or rest;
In hope of thee, my harvest...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
All things born to break
In meek sacrifice
For another’s sake,
All man’s striving vain,
Lavish’d as the price
Of the heart’s hid pain—
Long, O spirit-bird,
Of thy lonely fear
Hast thou sung unheard
In hope’s moon-lit wood,
While no creature near
Knew nor understood.
...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
Wend I, wander I, past all worlds that be;
Ever have I wander’d or e’er the earth was made;
Urg’d like the álien áir o’er land & sea,
Sleepless as sunlight, joyless as its shade.
Not on your earth travel I; sáy not to mé
‘Cease awhile thy wandering, Ó tir’d day!’
Say not, ‘O pilgrim, rest thee; comfort thee’:
Not hére is my journey’s end, Indus...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
I said, ‘Thou knowest, O all-knowing Friend,
My trouble for thee’. He said ‘Speak not so:
Thy sorrow came; thy sorrow too shall go.’
I said, ‘O light of Truth, when wilt thou spend
Thy radiance?’ Answer heard I, ‘It may be
This will not alway be denied to thee.’
I said, ‘O Merciful, when wilt to me
Show mercy?’ He replied ‘Till that time is
Endure thou...Read more of this...