nd erratic poets shines Hafiz. The
"Sugar Lip" is a book in which he sang of wine and love, nightingale
and flowers, bee and roses. Below is given a quotation from one of his
poems about the nightingale and the miller: "Ai morgh saher ashk
zparwana beyamoz, Kan sukhtara jan shud wawaz nayamab" translation: "O
thou the bird of morning, you must learn love from the miller. It
burned itself in the fire but did not make any noise." Haji Mollah
Kozim translated this rhyme as follows: "The morning bird is the
nightingale--little smaller than the sparrow, but it has a very loud
voice as clear as a golden bell." All poets in Persia agree that it is a
better singer than any other bird in Asia. Besides his singing he is
the bird that has more love for his mate than any other bird in the
world. They generally sing in the morning and the evening time. When
the female is on her nest the male sits in the same tree, or very near,
and sings for his mate. At times the male sits on the nest and his mate
perched near by sings for him in a wonderfully sweet voice. The
nightingale is a general favorite, and many popular songs have been
written about this bird, and are sung by nearly every young man and
young lady, boy and girl in Persia.

This author says of the miller that it loves light more than any other
insect. From its love of light it throws itself into the fire, as
everyone has seen in America of a summer evening about an electric
lamp. Sahdi takes this example for himself to illustrate his love to
God. He says the love of the miller is more than the love of the
nightingale because the nightingale shows its love by singing and
making noise; but the miller, though it has a living body, makes no
noise when it is burning in the fire. "So," says he, "ought to be my
love to God."

The city of Shiraz from the beginning until this day has been the seat
of religion and especially of poetry because these two eminent poets,
Sahdi and Hafiz, were born, lived, wrote and died here. Their tombs are
visited annually by thousands of pilgrims. They are dead but their
influence still lives and it has much effect on Persia and especially
on the inhabitants of the city of Shiraz. Many students are enrolled at
the great cathedral mosque in the city, where some of the ablest
professors of the country are instructors. Professor Yooseph, a
graduate of this institution, told me that the air and the very dust of
that city has in it the spirit of poetry. Ev