I am reading Hafiz’s Little Book of Life, poetry by Hafiz-e Shirazi. He is challenging me to become more comfortable with ambiguity. I will share his poem and some of my thoughts on his poem (sometimes with the help of experts when the concepts are too hard for me), followed by a poem and some art inspired by his poem.

Hafiz’s Poem 24:

Do you know what the harps

& the ouds proclaim?

“Drink liquor in privacy –

Or be whipped.”

Some thoughts:

Instruments are typically used in celebration, during worship, for beauty, and for enjoyment. They are also often accompanied by a singer or other instruments as part of a collaboration. It sounds as though the instruments themselves are issuing the proclamations in this poem. Perhaps there is still music, but it is staid, controlled, only permitted to be certain songs that are approved by the ruling faction. It seems the music cannot be fully silenced, though; the strings still vibrate and record the atmosphere of fear. They are testifying to the sorrow, possibly with satire in their very notes.

It has always been art and music that have carried the protest, whispering coded language, underground dissent. The message of prohibition is probably literal in this poem but stands for a much larger platform. If the government is attempting to control your behavior down to the very liquids you choose to put in your mouth, you can bet that is the least of the restrictions. Where there is tyranny and repressive laws that punish people unnecessarily, there will always be secret symbols used by dissidents to express their defiance.

My Poem 24:

“Go down, Moses” means
a conductor is in the vicinity
and the time to escape is near.
“Lord, help us all from bondage flee,
Let my people go,”
Sing of Israel fleeing Egypt
and the evil pharaoh, who God
condemned for enslaving His people,
then drowned his army in the Red Sea.
“Steal away, steal away to Jesus!”
Any minute now; stay ready.
Keep your shoes on your feet,
your staff in your hand,
eat in haste, for the time draws nigh.
“Steal away, steal away home.
I ain’t got long to stay here.”
Sing of a heavenly hope and longing
to be with Jesus in His mansion.

“Wade in the water,” where scent
disappears and paths are untraceable,
dogs and men in pursuit thwarted.
Water washes away sins,
through baptism, a holy renewal,
as Israel was baptized by crossing
the Red Sea, so you shall become
new on your way to freedom,
released from your old life.
“Wade in the water, children,”
for you are God’s true children.
“God is gonna trouble these waters,”
like the angel in the Bible
who healed the first to enter
the water that had been stirred.
Fear not, for the first with the courage
to enter are blazing the path
of healing and deliverance.

“Follow the drinking gourd,” describes
the Big Dipper, which points
to the North Star, the sky guide
who is the constant companion.
“For the old man is a-waitin”—
some say was “Peg Leg Joe,”
a conductor on the railroad
who taught the routes to those
who would accept what he had to offer.
“When the sun goes back
and the first quail calls,”
means be ready in spring
“The river ends between two hills
Follow the drinking gourd
There’s another river on the other side”
A route? Directions?
A song for a map,
memory—the road to freedom.

Hafiz. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.