"Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"The
Earth would die
If the sun stopped kissing her."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"I caught the happy virus last night
When I was out singing beneath the stars.
It is remarkably contagious -
So kiss me."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"There are different wells within your heart.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far too deep for that.

In one well
You have just a few precious cups of water,
That "love" is literally something of yourself,
It can grow as slow as a diamond
If it is lost.

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a
Stranger,
Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

There are different wells within us.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far, far too deep
For that."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (Hafiz' Poems)

"For a day, just for one day,
Talk about that which disturbs no one
And bring some peace into your
Beautiful eyes."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"In many parts of this world water is
Scarce and precious.
People sometimes have to walk
A great distance
Then carry heavy jugs upon their
Heads.
Because of our wisdom, we will travel
Far for love.
All movement is a sign of
Thirst.
Most speaking really says
"I am hungry to know you."
Every desire of your body is holy;
Every desire of your body is
Holy.
Dear one,
Why wait until you are dying
To discover that divine
Truth?"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"What we speak becomes the house we live in."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"This place where you are right now,
God circled on a map for you."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves through.....listen to this music"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"This is the kind of Friend
You are -
Without making me realize
My soul's anguished history,
You slip into my house at night,
And while I am sleeping,
You silently carry off
All my suffering and sordid past
In Your beautiful
Hands."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"Fear is the cheapest room in the house.
I would like to see you living
In better conditions."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"I have no use for divine patience -
My lips are now burning and everywhere.
I am running from every corner of this earth and sky
Wanting to kiss you."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"One regret that I am determined not to have
when I am lying upon my
death bed

is that we did not kiss
enough."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"A poet is someone who can pour light into a cup then raise it to nourish your beautiful, parched, holy mouth. "
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"what is this precious love and laughter budding in our hearts? It is the glorious sound of a soul waking up!"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"Here soar
Not with wings

But with your moving hands and feet
And sweating brows -

Standing by your Beloved's side
Reaching out to comfort this world

With your cup of solace
Drawn from your vast reservoir of truth."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"It happens all the time in heaven,
And some day

It will begin to happen
Again on earth -

That men and women who are married,
And men and men who are
Lovers,

And women and women
Who give each other
Light,

Often will get down on their knees

And while so tenderly
Holding their lover's hand,

With tears in their eyes,
Will sincerely speak, saying,

"My dear,
How can I be more loving to you;

How can I be more kind?""
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"For I have learned that every heart will get
What it prays for
Most."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"The heart is a
The thousand-stringed instrument

That can only be tuned with
Love."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"Listen: this world is the lunatic's sphere,
Don't always agree it's real,

Even with my feet upon it
And the postman knowing my door

My address is somewhere else."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"This
Path to God
Made me such an old sweet beggar.

I was starving until one night
My love tricked God Himself
To fall into my bowl.

Now Hafiz is infintely rich,
But all I ever want to do

Is keep emptying out
My emerald-filled
Pockets

Upon
This tear-stained
World."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"What is this precious love and laughter
Budding in our hearts?
It is the glorious sound
Of a soul waking up!"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"You see my state, and still increase my pain
I see your face, the need for union regain.
For my welfare, you have no care, I complain
Why do you heal me not from the sickness I disdain?
You bring me down and leave me on the earthly plane;
Return me to my home, by your side let me remain.
Only when I’m dust, your mercy can entertain;
Your flowing spirit stirs up dust of the slain.
Heartbroken of your love, from breathing I abstain
My life you destroy, yet my breathing you sustain.
In the dark night of the soul, I was growing insane,
Drinking from the cups that your features contain.
Suddenly in my arms, you appeared, clear, plain;
With my lips on your lips, my life and soul gain and drain.
Be joyful with Hafiz, with love enemies detain,
With such potent love, impotent foes self-restrain.

مرا می‌بینی و هر دم زیادت می‌کـنی دردم
تو را می‌بینـم و میلـم زیادت می‌شود هر دم
بـه سامانم نمی‌پرسی نمی‌دانم چه سر داری
بـه درمانـم نـمی‌کوشی نمی‌دانی مگر دردم
نه راه است این که بگذاری مرا بر خاک و بگریزی
گذاری آر و بازم پرس تا خاک رهـت گردم
ندارم دستت از دامن بجز در خاک و آن دم هـم
کـه بر خاکـم روان گردی به گرد دامنـت گردم
فرورفـت از غم عشقت دمم دم می‌دهی تا کی
دمار از مـن برآوردی نـمی‌گویی برآوردم
شـبی دل را به تاریکی ز زلفت باز می‌جستـم
رخـت می‌دیدم و جامی هـلالی باز می‌خوردم
کـشیدم در برت ناگاه و شد در تاب گیسویت
نـهادم بر لـبـت لـب را و جان و دل فدا کردم
تو خوش می‌باش با حافظ برو گو خصم جان می‌ده
چو گرمی از تو می‌بینم چه باک از خصم دم سردم"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"You need to become a pen in the Sun's hand. We need for the earth to sing through our pores and eyes."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"Let's get loose
With
Compassion,

Let's drown in the delicious
Ambience of
Love."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"Sometimes I say to a poem,

"I don't have the strength
To wring out another drop
Of the sun."

And the poem will often
Respond

By climbing onto a barroom table:

Then lifts its skirt, winks,
Causing the whole sky to
Fall."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"شب تاریک و بیم موج و گردابی چنین هایل
کجا دانند حال ما سبکباران ساحل ها"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"Beloved,/ I am so glad,/ So very glad You have come."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (Hafiz' Poems)

"دمی با غم به سر بردن جهان یک سر نمی‌ارزد
به می بفروش دلق ما کز این بهتر نمی‌ارزد

به کوی می فروشانش به جامی بر نمی‌گیرند
زهی سجاده تقوا که یک ساغر نمی‌ارزد

رقیبم سرزنش‌ها کرد کز این باب رخ برتاب
چه افتاد این سر ما را که خاک در نمی‌ارزد

شکوه تاج سلطانی که بیم جان در او درج است
کلاهی دلکش است اما به ترک سر نمی‌ارزد

چه آسان می‌نمود اول غم دریا به بوی سود
غلط کردم که این طوفان به صد گوهر نمی‌ارزد

تو را آن به که روی خود ز مشتاقان بپوشانی
که شادی جهان گیری غم لشکر نمی‌ارزد

چو حافظ در قناعت کوش و از دنیی دون بگذر
که یک جو منت دونان دو صد من زر نمی‌ارزد"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (Divan of Hafez)

"Not loving is a letting go.
Listen,
The terrain around here
Is
Far too
Dangerous
For
That."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"There are
So many positions of
Love:

Each curve on a branch,

The thousand different ways
Your eyes can embrace us,

The infinite shapes your
Mind can draw,

The spring
Orchestra of scents,

The currents of light combusting
Like passionate lips,

The revolution of Existence's skirt
Whose folds contain other worlds.

Your every sigh that falls against
His inconceivable
Omnipresent
Body."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"now is the season to know that everything you do is sacred"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

""...
چشم آسایش که دارد از سپهر تیزرو
ساقیا جامی به من ده تا بیاسایم دمی
زیرکی را گفتم این احوال بین خندید و گفت
صعب روزی، بوالعجب کاری، پریشان عالمی
...
در طریق عشقبازی امن و آسایش بلاست
ریش باد آن دل که با درد تو خواهد مرهمی
اهل کام و ناز را در کوی رندی راه نیست
رهروی باید جهان سوزی نه خامی بی غمی
آدمی در عالم خاکی نمی آید به دست
عالمی از نو بباید ساخت وز نو آدمی
گریه ی حافظ چه سنجد پیش استغنای عشق
کاندرین دریا نماید هفت دریا شبنمی ""
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Divan of Hafez Pocket Edition)

"The moon asked me to meet her in a field tonight. I think she has amorous ideas."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"Our union is like this:

You feel cold so I reach for a blanket to cover
our shivering feet.

A hunger comes into your body
so I run to my garden and start digging potatoes.

You asked for a few words of comfort and guidance and
I quickly kneel by your side offering you
a whole book as a
gift.

You ache with loneliness one night so much
you weep, and I say

here is a rope, tie it around me,
Hafiz will be your
companion for
life."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"A poet is someone
Who can pour light into a cup,
Then raise it to nourish
Your beautiful parched, holy mouth."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"Lean your sweet neck and mouth
Out of that dark nest where you hide,
I will pour effulgence into your mind."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"All your wounds from craving love
Exist because of heroic deeds."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)

"Emtehan kon ke basi jame moradat bedahand Gkharabi cho mara lotfe to abad konad"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"The way is full of perils and the goal far out of sight.
There is no road to which there is no end, do not despair."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī

"My dear,
Is it true that your mind is sometimes like a battering
Ram

Running all through the city,
Shouting so madly inside and out

About the ten thousand things
That do not matter?"
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"You have taken root in the Beloved.
I love your golden branches

And the hundred graceful movements
Your body now makes each time
The wind, children and love come near."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"Your soul once sat on an easel on my knee.
For ages I hve been sketching you
With myriad shapes of sounds and light;

Now awake, dear pilgrim,
With your thousand swaying arms
That need to caress the sky."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz)

"Lovers
Don't tell all of their
Secrets.

They might
Count each other's moles
That reside in the shy
Regions,

Then keep that tally strictly
To themselves.

God and I
Have signe a contract
To be even more intimate than
That!

Though a clause
Mentions

Something about not drawing detailed maps
To all His beautiful

Laughing
Moles."
— شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Khwāja Šams ud-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (The Gift)