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Spartan Surfers

c. 1315–1390

Hafez

Poet of Shiraz whose Divan of ghazals is still opened at random in Iran to seek an omen.

8 sourced lines

Every line we carry

Each one links to its source, what it means, and the shirt in any of our looks.

  1. Love looked easy at first. Then the hard part came.

    The first line of Hafez's Divan admits what every lover learns. Love begins as delight and turns into a road with real difficulty. Stay on it anyway; the hard part is where love grows up.

    Divan, Ghazal 1, our translation from the Persian

  2. Dark night, high waves. What do they know, the ones safe on shore?

    Hafez pictures himself in a whirlpool at night while others, travelling light, stand safe on the beach. People who have not been in the storm cannot fully judge it. Be slow to judge those still in the water, and keep swimming if it is you.

    Divan, Ghazal 1, our translation from the Persian

  3. Lost Joseph will come home. Do not grieve.

    Joseph, lost and mourned by his father Jacob, came home in the end. Hafez uses the old story as a promise: what seems lost forever can return. Keep the light on.

    Divan, Ghazal 255, our translation from the Persian

  4. This house of sorrow will be a rose garden one day.

    Grief has a room, and Hafez promises it will not stay bare. Seasons turn, and roses grow where there was only dust. Do not decide today that sorrow is permanent.

    Divan, Ghazal 255, our translation from the Persian

  5. The road is dangerous and the goal is far. Every road has an end.

    Hafez does not pretend the journey is safe or short. He only insists it is finite. Keep walking; there is no road without an end.

    Divan, Ghazal 255, our translation from the Persian

  6. With Noah at the helm, do not fear the flood.

    Even if a flood sweeps away the foundations of life, Hafez says, you have a captain who has been through it before. Fear is natural; panic is optional. Trust the one steering.

    Divan, Ghazal 255, our translation from the Persian

  7. Do not lose hope. You do not know the secrets of the unseen.

    Despair claims to know how things end. Hafez reminds us that we do not, and that hidden plays are at work behind the curtain. Since you cannot see the whole story, do not close the book.

    Divan, Ghazal 255, our translation from the Persian

  8. Tell the dawn of hope to come out. The dark night is over.

    Hafez pictures hope as a morning that has been hiding behind a curtain. Now the long night's work is done and it can step out. When a hard season ends, let yourself say so.

    Divan, Ghazal 166, our translation from the Persian