by Hafis (c1327 - 1390)
Translation by Edwin Arnold (1832 - 1904)
The new Moon's silver sickle, and the...
Language: English after the Persian (Farsi)
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!' "
About the headline (FAQ)
Text 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 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hafis (c1327 - 1390) [text unavailable]
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), "The new moon's silver sickle", 1903, published 1905, orchestrated 1937 [baritone and orchestra or piano], from Five Ghazals of Hafiz, no. 5, 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: 8
Word count: 90