":

and Cowley's,--

"The melancholy Cowley lay."

But it is easy to Hafiz. It gives him the opportunity of the most
playful self-assertion, always gracefully, sometimes almost in the fun
of Falstaff, sometimes with feminine delicacy. He tells us, "The angels
in heaven were lately learning his last pieces." He says, "The fishes
shed their pearls, out of desire and longing as soon as the ship of
Hafiz swims the deep."

"Out of the East, out of the West, no man understands me;
O, the happier I, who confide to none but the wind!
This morning heard I how the lyre of the stars resounded,
'Sweeter tones have we heard from Hafiz!'"

Again,--"I heard the harp of the planet Venus, and it said in the early
morning, 'I am the disciple of the sweet-voiced Hafiz!'" And
again,--"When Hafiz sings, the angels hearken, and Anaitis, the leader
of the starry host, calls even the Messiah in heaven out to the dance."
"No one has unveiled thoughts like Hafiz, since the locks of the
Word-bride were first curled." "Only he despises the verse of Hafiz who
is not himself by nature noble."

But we must try to give some of these poetic flourishes the metrical
form which they seem to require:--

"Fit for the Pleiad's azure chord
The songs I sung, the pearls I bored."

Another:--

"I have no hoarded treasure,
Yet have I rich content;
The first from Allah to the Shah,
The last to Hafiz went."

Another:--

"High heart, O Hafiz! though not thine
Fine gold and silver ore;
More worth to thee the gift of song,
And the clear insight more."

Again:--

"O Hafiz speak not of thy need;
Are not these verses thine?
Then all the poets are agreed,
No man can less repine."

He asserts his dignity as bard and inspired man of his people. To the
Vizier returning from Mecca, he says, "Boast not rashly, prince of
pilgrims, of thy fortune. Thou hast indeed seen the temple; but I, the
Lord of the temple. Nor has any man inhaled from the musk-bladder of the
merchant, or from the musky morning-wind, that sweet air which I am
permitted to breathe every hour of the day." And with still more vigour
in the following lines:--

"Oft have I said, I say it once more,
I, a wanderer, do not stray from myself,
I am a kind of parrot; the mirror is holden to me;
What the Eternal says, I stammering say again.
Give me what you will; I eat thistles as rose