Poetry: Ashraf AboArafe
A poetic vision uniting the fragrance of Shiraz, the wisdom of Hafez Shirazi and Omar Khayyam, and the living pulse of the Egyptian Nile in a timeless message of humanity that transcends the boundaries of time and place.
In Shiraz, love’s sun rose in the heavens, bright, And through its gardens bloomed a tender light.
There Hafez came, as witnessed by the years, To prove that beauty moves the heart through tears.
The fourteenth century saw his dawn unfold, While poetry awakened, radiant as gold.
O Shiraz, cradle of the dreams we treasure, Where words became the fragrance of love’s pleasure!
You learned the Book, and wisdom filled your soul, And language blossomed, luminous and whole.
Your honored name through Shiraz’s annals rang, While generations kept your verses’ song.
You never dressed your poetry in empty art; Each verse became a lantern for the heart.
You poured the beauty of expression clear, And lit the hidden worlds that souls hold dear.
O poet of love, did you ever know How longing makes the heart revive and grow?
How free and loving eyes, when they behold, See light beyond the veils of days of old?
You sang of roses, lovers, moonlit skies, And dreams that wake where sleeping spirits rise.
For love, to you, was never merely flame; It freed the soul and gave the heart its name.
How many hopes you left beside our door, Till despair took wings and rose to soar!
Your cup of verse awakened questions deep: Was it wine’s enchantment, or wisdom from sleep?
Was it the grape that sparkled in your rhyme, Or the soul’s awakening beyond all time?
Within your symbols, mysteries softly gleam, And metaphors illuminate the dream.
You unmasked hypocrisy beneath its guise, And stripped away the falsehood of the wise.
For not all those who wear the robes of truth Possess a conscience pure, or hearts of youth.
Hafez lived through ages restless and unkind, Where change and power ruled the human mind.
He watched the kingdoms rise, then fade away, While poetry and memory chose to stay.
For crowns were never miracles to him; Fame fades, and pride grows silent, cold, and dim.
The free soul writes a song for humankind, That outlives palace tales the courts leave behind.
The Divan of Hafez is an endless sea, Where stars of thought shine on eternally.
Across the earth, its verses found their way, And touched each distant shore with their display.
In gatherings of letters, scholars heard The music of his thought in every word.
In Germany, his echo traveled far, And Goethe loved the poet like a star.
Thus Hafez became a song for every land, His Divan a charter love could understand.
In Shiraz, his mortal journey reached its end, Yet not his verses, which the ages tend.
At Hafezieh, his story still survives, Where poetry in every visitor thrives.
The stranger comes with questions in his eyes, And leaves with dreams beneath more hopeful skies.
As though you told the generations all: Who plants the seeds of love shall never fall.
And now the poem leaves Shiraz behind, To seek the Nile, where timeless dreams entwine.
Until the Nile of immortality Embraces Shiraz across eternity.
Here, on the banks of Egypt’s ancient stream, A dream transforms our distance to a gleam.
Hafez appears, a melody in his eyes, While Khayyam joins him beneath the evening skies.
Let not the ages claim this meeting true; It blooms in dreams, in verse, in worlds anew.
No page of history records this scene; Our rhyme has woven what our hearts have seen.
A meeting born of poetry and art, Where history and imagination part.
Khayyam then asked: “O Hafez, tell me, friend, Do questions haunt us even at the end?”
Hafez replied: “Love is a way to know; Through truth, the voice of longing learns to glow.”
Khayyam asked: “Days depart and will not stay; Why chase a secret time will take away?”
Hafez replied: “Let every spirit ask; Love lifts the heart beyond fear’s heavy mask.”
The Nile listened, while the waves lay still, As though the waters heard the secrets’ will.
A green pavilion shimmered far away, And roses opened where the dream held sway.
Here, neither Persia’s poetry alone Nor ancient wisdom claims the heart as its own.
For hearts united by the power of love Know no dividing distance, wall, or cove.
O Egypt, shore of history, land of grace, Where civilizations meet and interlace!
From your Nile’s dawn, the caravans depart, To Shiraz, bearing fragrance in the heart.
Within your lands, no cultures live apart; Upon your banks, they gather, mind to heart.
Persia bestows her loveliest lines, While Egypt opens doors where humankind shines.
From Khayyam’s wisdom comes the echoing question; From silk-like rhymes, new thoughts find their expression.
From Hafez’s words, affection flows anew, And barren fields grow green beneath its dew.
O Nile, proclaim to all the world today: When hearts unite, all dangers fade away.
No East need turn from kindred Eastern skies, Nor love accept the walls that fear supplies.
When friendship brings civilizations near, Their differences become the world’s rich sphere.
Egypt shall remain a window for each dream, A home for dialogue, where human hopes gleam.
O Hafez of Shiraz, moon of endless light, You shine upon the soul beyond the night.
You gave our verses wings on which to fly, And opened pathways where our dreams reach high.
No grave can silence hope once given breath, Nor years erase a song that conquers death.
For love survives when faces disappear, And words live on when homes no longer cheer.
Shiraz takes pride, and all the world repeats: Hafez, whose fragrance time itself completes!
O threads of love, from Shiraz to the Nile, May no home lose its welcome or its smile.
If Hafez gave the world his tales of grace, Khayyam entrusted thought with mysteries to trace.
And Egypt brings them both into one dream, One song of love, one ever-flowing stream.
For love builds bridges no dividing wall can sever, And humankind’s true home endures forever.
From Shiraz to the Nile, our poem journeys on; Love lives, and poetry, and humankind live on.
