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by Hafis (c1327 - 1390)
Translation by Edwin Arnold (1832 - 1904)

Sáki! dye the cup's rim deeper with the...
Language: English  after the Persian (Farsi) 
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.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text 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 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hafis (c1327 - 1390) [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Sáki! dye the cup's rim deeper", 1903, published 1905, orchestrated 1937 [baritone and orchestra or piano], from Five Ghazals of Hafiz, no. 3, Trinity, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2013-03-11
Line count: 22
Word count: 255

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