Ghazal 52
 
Which Beloved?
 
 
For years to be madly in love with everything beautiful was
                                                This religion of mine
The sorrow and heartache indeed the beatitude of
                                                This heart of mine [1]
 
To behold Your face an eye has to be made from Love
So low-grade indeed the worldly vision of
                                                This eye of mine
 
Be my love since the beauty of the cosmos and adornments of life
Lit from the resplendence of Your face just like blazing stars are
                                                These tears of mine [2]
 
Once your love indeed taught me how to talk [3]
People are the subject of praises and admirations of
                                                These chants of mine
 
Bestow upon I the endowment of poverty
Since this benevolence is the strength of [4]
                                                This empowerment of mine
 
Tell the advisors boast not about the rulers they befriend
Since the palace of the Omnipotent Sultan is [5]
                                                This miserable heart of mine
 
O Lord! Which Beloved’s court is this Ka’ba?
Since the briers on its path are the flowers and [6]
                                                These daffodils of mine
 
Hafez:
Tell not tales about the splendor of the king Parviz [7]
Since his lips sip at the bottom of the King’s goblet
                                                This nectar of mine
 
End. 
 
 
 
 
[1] Hafez believes that “Allah is beautiful and loves all things beautiful” and since a lover loves all that his Beloved loves therefore he loves all that is beautiful like a religion. But happiness is the beatitude of the physical realm the sorrow is the beatitude of the realm of the heart. Because we are sad often due to lack of something or betrayal of someone or the ruin of something or misbehavior of someone which are all caused when a slave is drawn close to Divine Beloved. It has Qayrat (Wants no one around Its Love) so It repels all around, hence the sorrow. But Hafez sees beyond the pain & heartache the resplendence of the luminous Divine Beloved. 
 
[2] Continuation of [1], indeed there is nothing beautiful in the universe unless it takes its beauty from the beauty of our Beloved. Nothing and no one can be beautiful without It. Specially the beautiful tears that falls from our faces. Because It is the One that causes the sorrow, no one else indeed, and It is the one causing the rolling of the tears and indeed no one else has the power, haven’t you heard Allah, “That it is ‘It’ Who granteth Laughter and Tears” (Koran [53:43]).
 
[3] When Sufi reaches the stage when Beloved talks his words and Beloved listens to his words and the Sufi is just entangled in between, all the Sufi says to people is nothing but good words and praiseworthy commendations. Because Beloved never speaks foul words.
 
[4] Prophet Mohammad Peace Be Upon Him said, “Faqr (Poverty) is my honor & pride”. This verse is about this Hadith (Narration). Faqr (Poverty) in this context means that Prophet needs nothing from anyone and Allah fulfills all his needs at all times without him even asking. And his heart is perpetually firm upon the Maqam (Station for Meeting) facing the Divine Presence that needs no one else but Allah. 
 
[5] I do not know (not sure) the Asnaad (Chains of Oral Narration) but this is quoted as a saying of Allah through the Prophet, “I (Allah) am amongst the shattered hearts”. Do you want to find Allah that Divine Beloved we all yearn to find then look for the Royal Highness amongst the broken hearts.
 
[6] Ka’ba is the cubic structure in Makka, Saudi Arabia where the Muslims on daily basis pray towards and perform pilgrimage for. The land route towards Ka’ba is quite harsh and filled with many difficulties for travelers. But Hafez using this difficult travel as an Ishaarat (Paradigm to Hint at) that who is this Beloved whom each day he seeks and worships, since the path (in his heart) towards It is filled with thorns (trials & tribulations) but these painful thorns either on his feet or in his runny eyes are flowers in his heart. 
 
[7] Parviz was a legendary King of Persia. Hafez is advising his Self: Listen don’t be amazed at the tales of some big shot king, since this king drinks the left over wine of the King of my heart [5] and this little bit of wine in the bottom of the goblet is the nectar of love in my own heart. In other words the Beloved Sultan is within my heart and the nectar of love that even the big shot kings cannot taste is within my heart too. 

Background: “Haitian mentally ill girl during the hurricane: I lived with this young woman and her family in their tin roof shack. We slept 4 together in one bed while the water rose to the bedside” Jacob Holdt Cite Solei Haiti 1994.



© 2004-2002,  Dara O. Shayda