Poetic-Verses from ATHANASE
A Mystic On Language (English)
'No mortal has ever seen You,
yet a thousand lovers desire You...'
Hafiz
My Prince, when our language meets the limit of the expressible
and words are no longer of use for naming things,
press your heart against the mute heart of these roses
and you will hear the song of the inaudible in your soul!
translated from the French of Athanase Vantchev de Thracy by Norton Hodges
09.10.05.
Notes:
Hafez or Hafiz (Shams al-Din Muhammad) : the greatest Persian (Iranian) mystic and lyric poet. He was born in Shiraz circa 1320 and dyed in the same town circa 1389. Hafiz was son of a certain Baha-ud-Din.
His lyrical poems of love, called ghazals in Arabic, are noted for their beauty and bring to fruition the mystical love, and early Sufist themes that had long pervaded Persian poetry. Later of brilliant studies in theology and in Arabic language and literature, he taught those subjects as well as the Koranic exegesis (where from his literary name Hâfiz, ‘the one who knows by heart the Koran') in a medersa (Koranic University). His grave, near Shiraz, is until now a place of pilgrimage.
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A Mystic On Language (English)
A Mystic On Language (English)
