Analysis of Lay not reproach at the drunkard's door
Shams al-Din Hafiz 1315 (Shiraz) – 1390 (Shiraz)
LAY not reproach at the drunkard's door
Oh Fanatic, thou that art pure of soul;
Not thine on the page of life to enrol
The faults of others! Or less or more
I have swerved from my path--keep thou to thine own
For every man when he reaches the goal
Shall reap the harvest his hands have sown.
Leave me the hope of a former grace--
Till the curtain is lifted none can tell
Whether in Heaven or deepest Hell,
Fair or vile, shall appear his face.
Alike the drunk and the strict of fare
For his mistress yearns--in the mosque Love doth dwell
And the church, for his lodging is everywhere.
If without the house of devotion I stand,
I am not the first to throw wide the door
My father opened it long before,
The eternal Paradise slipped from his hand.
All you that misconstrue my words' intent,
I lie on the bricks of the tavern floor,
And a brick shall serve me for argument.
Heaven's garden future treasures may yield--
Ah, make the most of earth's treasury!
The flickering shade of the willow-tree,
And the grass-grown lip of the fruitful field.
Trust not in deeds--the Eternal Day
Shall reveal the Creator's sentence on thee;
But till then, what His finger has writ, who can say.
Bring the cup in thine hand to the Judgment-seat;
Thou shalt rise, oh Hafiz, to Heaven's gate
From the tavern where thou hast tarried late.
And if thou hast worshipped wine, thou shalt meet
The reward that the Faithful attain;
If such thy life, then fear not thy fate,
Thou shalt not have lived and worshipped in vain.
Scheme | ABBACBC DEEDFEF GAAGXAX HIIHJIJ KLLKMLM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11011011 1010111111 111011111 011101111 11111111111 11001111001 110101111 110110101 1010110111 100101101 11110111 010100111 11101001111 0011110110 10101101011 1110111101 110101101 0010101111 1110011101 1110110101 0011111100 1010101011 110111100 010011011 0011110101 110100101 101011011 111111011111 10101110101 111111101 101011111 0111101111 001101001 111111111 1111101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,469 |
Words | 278 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 234 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 55 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 37 Views
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