The angels knocking on the tavern door Thirty poems of Hafez

The medieval Persian mystical poet Hafez used sinuous lines and ringing metaphors to write about wisdom, the dangers of repression and the paradoxes of his faith. His blend of simplicity and challenge makes him the most popular poet in Iran today. Bly and Lewisohn (a world-class Sufism expert) present clear and memorable versions of Hafez's renowned lyric meditations, though they forgo the original ghazal form (with its intricate repetitions) in favor of unrhymed pentameters. Sometimes their Hafez offers good advice: "Let's be faithful to what we love./ And keep our spirits high." Sometimes he describes his warmth and contentment: "The delight of a few words/ With a soul friend for us is enough." Just as often, though, he shows how the ways of his seeking, and the distance between divine immanence and earthly travail, can disturb even the most sincere follower: "Don't imagine us to be like the tulip," he concludes; "rather look at the dark/ Spot of grief we have set on our scorched hearts." Though Hafez does not (yet) have the immense Western popularity of that other Sufi mystic, Rumi, his verse has all the ingredients to make a similar splash. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door Thirty Poems of Hafez How Blame Has Been Helpful We are drunken ecstatics who have let our hearts Go to the wild. We are musty scholars Of love, and old friends of the wine cup. People have aimed the arrow of guilt a hundred times In our direction. With the help of our Darling's eyebrow, Blame has been a blessing, and has opened all our work. Oh, dark-spotted flower, you endured pain all night, Waiting for the wine of dawn; I am that poppy That was born with the burning spot of suffering. If our Zoroastrian master has become disgusted With our way of repentance, tell him, Go ahead, Strain the wine. We are standing here with our heads down. It is through you that our work goes on at all; Oh, teacher of the way, please throw us a glance. Let's be clear about it; we have fallen off the path. Don't imagine us to be like the tulip, who is preoccupied With its goblet shape; rather look at the dark Spot of grief we have set on our scorched hearts. "Hafez," you say, "what about all your intriguing colors And ingenious fantasies?" Don't take our language seriously. We are a clean slate on which nothing has been written. The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door Thirty Poems of Hafez . Copyright © by Robert Bly. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door: Thirty Poems of Hafez by Hafez, Leonard Lewisohn, Robert Bly All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.