I will give one of his rhymes which will show the spirit of his
mysticism: "Gar Kasi wasf ou Zman Posad, bidil oz binishon chiguyan
baz, ashikon kushtagon mashookand, bar nayayad Z kooshtagon awaz." The
thirteenth century was one of the most brilliant in the annals of
Persian poetry. The greatest seer of the era was Sheikh Musli Eddin
Sahdie of Shiraz who died in the year 1291. He stands unrivaled as
Persia's foremost didactic poet. His Boston and Guliston--"the fruit of
the garden and roses,"--are universally known and loved in Europe.
At the beginning of the fourteenth century we made several meritorious
imitations of Sahdi in didactic poetry. But far above all these as
above all other Persian lyrical and erratic poets shines Hafiz. The
"Sugar Lip" is a book in which he sang of wine and love, nightingale
and flowers, bee and roses. Below is given a quotation from one of his
poems about the nightingale and the miller: "Ai morgh saher ashk
zparwana beyamoz, Kan sukhtara jan shud wawaz nayamab" translation: "O
thou the bird of morning, you must learn love from the miller. It
burned itself in the fire but did not make any noise." Haji Mollah
Kozim translated this rhyme as follows: "The morning bird is the
nightingale--little smaller than the sparrow, but it has a very loud
voice as clear as a golden bell." All poets in Persia agree that it is a
better singer than any other bird in Asia. Besides his singing he is
the bird that has more love for his mate than any other bird in the
world. They generally sing in the morning and the evening time. When
the female is on her nest the male sits in the same tree, or very near,
and sings for his mate. At times the male sits on the nest and his mate
perched near by sings for him in a wonderfully sweet voice. The
nightingale is a general favorite, and many popular songs have been
written about this bird, and are sung by nearly every young man and
young lady, boy and girl in Persia.
This author says of the miller that it loves light more than any other
insect. From its love of light it throws itself into the fire, as
everyone has seen in America of a summer evening about an electric
lamp. Sahdi takes this example for himself to illustrate his love to
God. He says the love of the miller is more than the love of the
nightingale because the nightingale shows its love by singing and
making noise; but the miller, though it has a living body, makes no
noise when it is burning in the fire. "So," says he, "ought to be my
love to God."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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