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Khwajah Shams ud-Din Muhammad Hafiz-i Shirazi (d. 1389)

By June 28, 2021April 26th, 2023No Comments

Khwajah Shams ud-Din Muhammad Hafiz-i Shirazi
(d. 1389)

Home > Translations > Khwajah Shams ud-Din Muhammad Hafiz-i Shirazi (d. 1389)
GHAZAL [Hijab-i chehr-i jan mishavad ghubar-i manam]

The dust of my body veils the face of my soul.
Happy the moment I can pull the veil from that face.

Such a cage is unjust, because my voice is beautiful.
I am a bird of Heaven’s garden. I will go there.

Where I was and why I came are not clear.
It’s too bad I don’t understand.

How can I circumambulate the vast expanse of Heaven
when I am boarded up in the mud brick house of my body?

If the scent of joy spills from my heart’s blood, don’t be surprised,
for it is like the musk sac of a stag from Khotan.

Don’t be distracted by the flickering of my gold-embroidered shirt,
for hidden fires blaze beneath it.

Come, take Hafiz’s life from him.
As long as there is you, no one will hear from me that I am I.

Published in:

Wine & Prayer: Eighty Ghazals from the Díwán of Hafiz (White Cloud Press, 2019).