Finding Hafez

Iran is one of the oldest civilizations on the planet and is basically all that is left of ancient Persia. There is so much more to see than lovely and modern Tehran, so tomorrow H and I leave for a Persian road trip; driving five hours south to Isfahan, a city offering ancient monuments, still-active bazaars built centuries ago, and mosques (sadly, it is better known in the west only as the center of the Iranian nuclear development debate). After two nights there we will drive another four hours to Takhd-Jamshid, another historical city with buildings and artifacts both religious and otherwise dating back more than two thousand years, and then on to Shiraz where we will view the tomb of Farsi poet and philosopher Hafez (a name given to those who had mastered memorization of the entire Qu'ran) along with whatever else Shiraz holds in store for us.

I remember being impressed with the two hundred year old cemeteries and buildings in Boston...imagine.

I've loved and studied the writings of Hafez for years, long before I met my darling...and then he started reading diwans to me from the book he'd packed along with him to India, in Persian late at night when I could not sleep for the noise of Bangalore and I could only fall even more madly in love with him.
Hafez is a book almost equally as common as the Qu'ran in Persian households - used for divination, of sorts, or just for a nice bit of poetry on a slow or otherwise difficult day. It was wonderful to discover that we had this love of poetry in common and was an early meeting point between our two languages, H translating the Farsi for me as best he could and learning English more and more with every reading.

It seems nearly every region in Iran is steeped in history and I am so looking forward to walking in the same streets as someone so profoundly brilliant, and solidly Persian, as Hafez.

برو به کار خود ای واعظ این چه فریادست
مرا فـتاد دل از ره تو را چه افتادسـت
میان او کـه خدا آفریده اسـت از هیچ
دقیقه‌ایست که هیچ آفریده نگشادست
بـه کام تا نرساند مرا لبـش چون نای
نصیحـت همه عالم به گوش من بادست
گدای کوی تو از هشت خلد مستغنیست
اسیر عشق تو از هر دو عالم آزادسـت
اگر چه مستی عشقـم خراب کرد ولی
اساس هستی من زان خراب آبادسـت
دلا مـنال ز بیداد و جور یار کـه یار
تو را نصیب همین کرد و این از آن دادست
برو فسانه مخوان و فسون مدم حافـظ
کز این فسانه و افسون مرا بسی یادست

Keep to your own affairs, why do you fault me?
My heart has fallen in love, what has befallen thee?
In the center of he, whom God made from nothing
There is a subtle point that no creature can see.
Until His lips fulfill my lips like a reed
From all the worldly advice I must flee.
The beggar of your home, of the eight heavens has no need
The prisoner of your love, from both worlds is thus free.
Though my drunkenness has brought forth my ruin
My essence is flourished by paying that ruinous fee.
O heart for the pain and injustice of love do not plead
For this is your lot from the justice of eternity.
Hafiz don’t help magic and fantasy further breed
The world is filled with such, from sea to sea.

- Hafez