Hafez Ghazal 396
Obsession
Discussion Join
Dawn has come and O Cupbearer brim-fill a goblet
O please do
No stalling to the wheel of cosmos so hurry
O please do
Just before this evanescing universe would fall apart
Intoxicate us with the goblet
of the rubicund wine
O please do
The wine’s
sun from the east of the Cupbearer dawned
If you desire the pleasures forsake the sleeping
O please do
That day when the wheel of time made us into pottery
Alas! Fill with wine
the cup
made from our dust
O please do
I am not a man of asceticism, repentance or endurance
But call us to the goblet
of the purest of all wines
O please do
O Hafez the good deed for sure is obsession for wine
Rise with resolve and determination for good deeds
O please do
End.
What is most manifest to an abandoned Haitian child in Petronville—City
of Lost Children—is inmost hidden secret to a wandering Persian Dervish:
Haitian Child: Dawn has come
and the caravan of the loving parents, a nice home, warm meals and lots
of laughter, has departed in a hurry into the daylight of this life and
I am left behind orphaned.
Persian Dervish: Dawn has come
and the caravan of loving that Divine Beloved, a nice dwelling where
the Auliā (Divine Patricians) frolic amongst the meadows of Dhikr
(Remembrance)
with lots of blooming Divine Secrets, has departed in a
hurry into the daylight of this life and I am left behind ignorant.
Haitian Child: Before this
evanescing life comes to an abrupt miserable end please give me one
moment of pleasure be it even a dream of my parents.
Persian Dervish: Before this
evanescing life comes to its deserved and assured end please pour me a
goblet
brim-filled with Mahab-bat (Divine
Love) for a mere moment of
eternal pleasure be it even in the tavern of dreams.
Haitian Child: Maybe this dawn
around some street corner, if I do not fall asleep and watch the
sunrise, sun may rise from the east of my lost parents and once and
evermore I will be happy.
Persian Dervish: Maybe this
dawn sun of the Divine
Light rises from my Beloved’s hearth, I found my
lost love and once and evermore bask in effulgence of loving.
Haitian Child: I sacrifice all
even my life and if I die tomorrow could I have a glimpse of my parents
that I never had?
Persian Dervish: I sacrifice
all even my life and if I die tomorrow could I have a sip of the wine
of Mahab-bat (Divine
Love) for my thirsting soul? And if I have to
sacrifice my Self then would You make a cup out of my own dust to drink
from…
Haitian Child: I am not a good
child, I steal and do all that a child ought not do, but could I have a
moment of happiness with my parents?
Persian Dervish: I am not
righteous and pious but still may I taste the purest of all wines
of
Mahab-bat (Divine
Love)?
Haitian Child: The best thing
for me is to run around every street corner, again and gain, and
perchance I may find my parents.
Persian Dervish: The best thing
for me is to search obsessively for the Cupbearer, the Cup and
the Wine
and stop at nothing and nowhere until I am drunk with a gulp of wine
of
loving.
And truly what difference does it make to be a Persian Dervish or an
abandoned Haitian Child since at the end:
A man amongst the mannequins I wander
Hoping for my love
A mannequin amongst the people I stand
Posing for my love
© 2005-2002, Dara O.
Shayda
