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
If there be any power in passion’s prayer—
But no: such ultimate longings have no word:
There is no eloquence in last despair.
Many have voiced their pain & answer heard;
Though ’twere but this, that to give bodied form
To grief, call’d their own heart to combat it:
But not ev’n thus can I pray;—thou strong storm,
All-overpowering, baffling bravest wit,
Wild spirit spurning cage of time...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
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
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
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
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
Eyes that o’er the landscape fly,
Over dale & wood & stream
To the cloud-realms of the sky;
Eyes that wander still & dream,
Hopes that ever forward press
Seeking lovelier loveliness;
All the world is yours to roam
—Searching eye & swiftling thought—
Nowhere can ye make your home;
Not where peace so vainly sought
Bower’d in the valley lies,
Nor content’s small villages;
Nor can pleasure’s garish dress
Tempt you to...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
Where is the pious doer? & I the estray’d one, where?
Behold how far the distance, from his safe home to here!
Dark is the stony desert, trackless & vast & dim,
Where is hope’s guiding lantern? Where is faith’s star so fair?
My heart fled from the cloister, & chant of monkish hymn,
What can avail me sainthood, fasting & punctual prayer?
What is the...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
I called to fading day
As o’er the hill she flew,
‘Whither, glad light, away?
Take me, O take me too!’
She said, ‘O wingless one,
Thou hast thy memoried sun’.
I said to the droop’d rose
Awhile that was so fair,
‘Why dost so swiftly lose,
Sweet grace, thy blooming air?’
She said, ‘This is my doom;
Cherish thou beauty’s tomb’.
I cried to Joy as late
I stood, bidding farewell,
‘Must this...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
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
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 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
What madness ’twas, I know not, that thus enchanted me;
What wine, nor who the bringer, nor wherefore enter’d he.
—Lament no more, O full heart, thy love so close confin’d!
O rosebud, ope thy glory, thy beauty nought shall bind!
Behold the flower-fill’d meadows; thou too, O wistful Dear,
Take in thine hand the goblet, & lend to me thine ear!
Lo, for our wintry...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
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
Fair is the leisure of life’s garden-ground:
Pleasant is friendship’s voice & mirth’s soft sound.
Sweet are the perfumed flowers; yea, yea, what bliss
Sootheth like hope’s fresh scent of loveliness?
Lovely, O nightingale, is thy lament;
Ever to listening love thy plaint is dear;
In the fond thought of love thy life is spent.
Though in this world joy’s goal is but a name,
Fair is thy...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
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
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
Once more, O happy hill & peaceful plain,
Once more, O kindly meadow, laugh with glee:
Now is all earth’s old nature young again.
Once more the lily may her lover see;
Once more the eager tulip lifteth up
Unto the wine-filled rose her golden cup.
O hold thou dear the flowers, that through Spring’s door
Enter thy garden: ere thou may’st no more
Behold them, love them...Read more of this...
by
Hafez
When first to earth thy gentle spirit came
From some soft climate of Elysian field,
Garmented in its own ethereal flame;
When first from heav’n’s high peace it enter’d here,
No armour had it then, nor guarding shield,
Nor sword for safety, nor attacking spear,
No pang’d misgivings suffered it, nor fear,
Seeing in every face its own sweet face,
Smiling to treachery with trustful eyes,
Finding in nature...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...