Blog Entry 2

The poem I chose to write about is ,"I Cease Not From Desire" by Hafiz. This poem to me came across as a man desiring his lovers warmth to not feel as if he is dying. The man is dying but does not want to leave before his lover comes to give him peace. His love is strong enough to overcome death and wait for his lover even after he is no longer alive. This poem makes me vision a scenery of two people standing close to each other yet are distant from each other. The man reaching out for his lover and the lover is not responding to his action. The man feels his desire increasing as his heart aches and is hurt because his lover is not giving him what he desires.

Shamseddin Mohammad best known as Hafiz (his pen name) is an Iranian poet lived from dates 1320- 1389 (estimated). He was born in Shiraz, South Central Iran and has his tomb in the Muslla Gardens in Shiraz. Hafiz was a working man after his father's death and later on became a poet and became famous during his twenties to thirties in his hometown. He was known as a great poet and his poetry is still taught in schools. 

http://www.hafizonlove.com/bio/ 

"I Cease Not From Desire"  by Hafiz ; Translated by G.Bell

I CEASE not from desire till my desire
Is satisfied; or let my mouth attain
My love’s red mouth, or let my soul expire,
Sighed from those lips that sought her lips in vain.
Others may find another love as fair;
Upon her threshold I have laid my head,
The dust shall cover me, still lying there,
When from my body life and love have fled.

My soul is on my lips ready to fly,
But grief beats in my heart and will not cease,
Because not once, not once before I die,
Will her sweet lips give all my longing peace.
My breath is narrowed down to one long sigh
For a red mouth that burns my thoughts like fire;
When will that mouth draw near and make reply
To one whose life is straitened with desire?

When I am dead, open my grave and see
The cloud of smoke that rises round thy feet:
In my dead heart the fire still burns for thee;
Yea, the smoke rises from my winding-sheet!
Ah, come, Beloved! for the meadows wait
Thy coming, and the thorn bears flowers instead
Of thorns, the cypress fruit, and desolate
Bare winter from before thy steps has fled.

Hoping within some garden ground to find
A red rose soft and sweet as thy soft cheek,
Through every meadow blows the western wind,
Through every garden he is fain to seek.
Reveal thy face! that the whole world may be
Bewildered by thy radiant loveliness;
The cry of man and woman comes to thee,
Open thy lips and comfort their distress!

Each curling lock of thy luxuriant hair
Breaks into barbèd hooks to catch my heart,
My broken heart is wounded everywhere
With countless wounds from which the red drops start.
Yet when sad lovers meet and tell their sighs,
Not without praise shall Hafiz’ name be said,
Not without tears, in those pale companies
Where joy has been forgot and hope has fled.

http://www.poetseers.org/the-poetseers/hafiz/hafiz-poems/i-cease-not-from-desire/