I see the light of god in the Magian tavern.
Look, this is strange! I see what light from where?
Don’t sell me your pomp, king of the Haj- you
See a house of stone, and I see the house of god!
I wish to release the musk from the idol’s curls-
This is a big idea and no doubt a big blunder!
Burnt heart, tear’s flood, dawn’s sigh and night’s lament-
I see all of this by your sight- full of grace!
Mind’s thief is every moment a vision of you face.
To whom describe all that passes behind this veil?
No one sees in the musk of China or Khatan
What I see each morning from the dawn breeze.
Friends, don’t blame the playing eye of Hafez-
I see him as one beloved among your own.
notes: Hafez has a fascination for the themes of the
Magian elder and the Magian wine-house, or temple,
where idols and wine are to be found. These images
refer to Iran’s pre Islamic past. Here, Zoroaster is
the Prophet of light, the tavern is the house of god,
but the Kaba is a house of stone!
Religious sensibility is no match for spiritual reality!
