Alá yá! send the Cup round! O Sáki! brim and send; Love, which at first was easy, grows harder at the end; For ache of what the Breeze brought from that musk-scented brow, Those purple tangled tresses, hearts' blood is dropping now. Well! dye the prayer-mat darker with wine, then; as 'tis bid; Such solace of Love's stages from Magians is not hid; But this stage, Best-Belovèd! is too long! when the bell Calls to unpack the camels, by God! it will be well. The Black Nights, and the fearful Wave, and whirpool wild of Fate; -- Oh, lightly-burdened ones ashore! what reck ye of our state? Wending mine own way, unto woe and ill-fame I was brought; How, in the loud Assemblies, could such high lore be taught? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . If thou wilt find The Presence, Hafiz! why, seek it so! This world or the Belovèd, choose one, and let one go!
Five Ghazals of Hafiz
Song Cycle by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946)
1. Alá yá! send the cup round  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Edwin Arnold (1832 - 1904), "Ghazal I", appears in The Tenth Muse, and Other Poems, in The Four First Ghazals of Hafiz, no. 1, first published 1895
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hafis (Mohammed Schemsed-din) (c1327 - 1390) [text unavailable]
Go to the single-text view
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Oh! glory of full‑mooned fairness  [sung text checked 1 time]
Oh, glory of full-mooned fairness! and lustre of lighted grace! Beauty sleeps deep in thy dimple, and, hid in thy chin-pit, Grace. Then only my heart shall know quiet, bright brows! and tresses in riot! Then -- Well-Belov'd! -- when its longing win forth to the peace of thy place. My soul, risen up to my lip, stands eager to see thee, and go; Backward and forward it flitteth; it fluttereth toward thee, and fro. What is thy pleasure? ah, say! ... "Hafiz! hard is the way; Keep thy skirt from the dust! many have finished in woe." Yet would my heavy heart hear what th' Heart-subduer intends; Oh, by my soul I swear -- I swear by your souls, sweet friends! No help's in this watching of ours! Buy, quick as ye may, red wine; Buy from the happy drunkards for whom sleep maketh amends. In the comfort of wine's warm slumber the swoon-bound spirit may wake, Some dew from a secret lip, some light from an eye-beam take; Lips! eyes! with a breeze from the Blest, let come rich scent of her breast, I shall breathe 't, and be glad, as the dust is glad for the rose's sake. Ho ye that do quaff the bowls at banquet of Jam! drink on! With empty cups to your full cups we pledge; we will fill them anon! To those who to God are dear -- to Yazd, wind! these words bear! May the heads of the loveless be balls for their horse-bats, every one! From the place of Propinquity far, we languish; but Love hath his wings; The slaves of your Lord we are, singing praise to the King of all Kings. Sultan of Kings! High Star! send down love-rays from far, And I Heaven's threshold will kiss, as the earth-edge the zenith en-rings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hafiz utters his prayer; Listen, and Amin say! "Give him his daily bread From the sugar-sweet lips alway!"
Authorship:
- by Edwin Arnold (1832 - 1904), "Ghazal II", appears in The Tenth Muse, and Other Poems, in The Four First Ghazals of Hafiz, no. 2, first published 1895
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hafis (Mohammed Schemsed-din) (c1327 - 1390) [text unavailable]
Go to the single-text view
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. Sáki! dye the cup's rim deeper  [sung text checked 1 time]
Sáki! dye the cup's rim deeper with the crimson of the wine; Minstrel! sing of Love, and tell us things desirable, divine! In the gold I saw reflected plain my Well-Belovèd's face! Ye, that are not ever drunken! Senseless! Void of joy and grace! Those your pale ones, those your prim ones, poor of stature, give delight Only till my Cypress showeth, till my Moon swims into sight. Never dies the heart enkindled from this flame of Love divine: On the tablets of the Ages writ eternally is mine. In the day of the Uprising not more profit will be got From permitted bread of Shaikh, than our unlawful drink, I wot. Breeze! if by that bed of rose-leaves, where the Well-Belovèd lies, Thou dost sigh, take heed to whisper these my passion-laden cries. Why let slip a living lover's name from memory, passing by, Since too quickly falls forgetting when the day comes that we die. To the Heart-Entangler's seeing this my drunkenness shows well, Freely therefore wine they gave me -- those high Lords of Heaven and Hell. Quaffing Hadji Kivâm's wine-cup, there I saw, by grace of him, In the green sea of the Night the new Moon, like a shallop, swim. Ah, my heart is like a tulip, closing up in time of cold; When, at length, shy Bird of Fortune! shall my snare thy winds enfold? Bird of Fortune! Bird of Favour! Spread the net, oh, Hafiz! spread! It may chance her wandering pinions to the lure shall yet be led.
Authorship:
- by Edwin Arnold (1832 - 1904), "Ghazal III", appears in The Tenth Muse, and Other Poems, in The Four First Ghazals of Hafiz, no. 3, first published 1895
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hafis (Mohammed Schemsed-din) (c1327 - 1390) [text unavailable]
Go to the single-text view
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. Súfi, hither gaze  [sung text checked 1 time]
Sufî, hither gaze! for brightly shines the Mirror of the Cup; Gaze into the ruby wine, and see what thing it flingeth up. No one ever [noticed]1 the Anka -- God's Bird -- throw away thy snare! All its mesh can ever catch thee, in this world, is empty air. Cleave to pleasures of the Present! Adam, judging otherwise, Lost his altered House of Peace; the lovely lawns of Paradise. At Time's table, quick to vanish, quaff a cup, ere thou must go; Ask not what He will not give thee, leave to always banquet so. Foolish, niggard Heart! Youth's flitted, and thou didst not pluck one Rose From Life's red bush! What's remaining? name and fame at life's dull close? Yet, except from drunkards, fuddled with God's glorious Wine, none learns What was veiled: the bigot Zahid nothing of himself discerns. Unto us will come the wages -- us who never left His Gate; Lord! Thy slaves lie at Thy threshold: have Thou pity on their state!
Authorship:
- by Edwin Arnold (1832 - 1904), "Ghazal IV", appears in The Tenth Muse, and Other Poems, in The Four First Ghazals of Hafiz, no. 4, first published 1895
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hafis (Mohammed Schemsed-din) (c1327 - 1390) [text unavailable]
Go to the single-text view
View original text (without footnotes)1 Bantock: "noosed"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
5. The new moon's silver sickle  [sung text checked 1 time]
The new Moon's silver sickle, and the Night's starfields I saw; And, for my own life's reaping time, fell on my spirit awe. "Awake, awake, good Genius!" I cried; "look, here's the sun!" "Woe's me!" -- "Nay!" spake he sweetly: "the deeds which thou hast done Are done. Have thou no terrors! Say, `Settle all accounts, Earth! with this corpse I leave thee, while my glad spirit mounts.' Say `Sky! boast not thy starry pomp! we who God's Sufis be, Sell moonbeams at a barleycorn, and the Pleiades for three!' "
Authorship:
- by Edwin Arnold (1832 - 1904), "Why the Poet is of good Cheer (From Ghazal 477 of Hafiz)", appears in The Tenth Muse, and Other Poems, first published 1895
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hafis (Mohammed Schemsed-din) (c1327 - 1390) [text unavailable]
Go to the single-text view
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]