Paradise Lost

A Ghazal of Hafiz-I Shirazi

My soul is buried in the mask of my own flesh
I will exult when it is stripped away from my face.

A caged bird unjustly jailed, whose voice is heavenly,
meant to be a singing bird in heaven's garden. I will fly there

where I once was. Why I fell to ground I cannot remember--
Alas, I cannot fathom this fall.

Oh, how can I reach the heights of God's paradise,
locked in this clay prison of a body?

Ah, but soon you will sense the joy rising in the beating of my heart.
Do not wonder that it is the musky scent of a marking stag from Hotan ,

and you will be blinded at the flaming of my beautifully made garment,
at the purifying fires that lick and consume my body

That come to take Hafiz’s life.
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On the poetic form of the ḡazal (ghazal, غزل) see the Encyclopaedia Iranica article here: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles...