"The Size of the Love-Bruise" by Hafez (c. 1389), translated by Daniel Ladinsky (2011)

Like “See How the Roses Burn!”, “The Size of the Love Bruise” exemplifies the multi-faceted quality of Hafez’s poetry. Love—which, in this poem, bruises instead of burns—is a physical, intellectual, and spiritual force; it marks the neck, brain, and soul. The quality of Ladinsky’s translations is a subject of debate among people who can read Hafez’s works in Farsi; Hafez’s English translation history as a whole, in fact, has been fraught. However, respected scholars and translators note that Ladinsky’s rendition adequately captures the many interpretive levels at work in Hafez’s Sufi poetry.

"Ghazal 1" by Hafez (c. 1389), by eight different translators

This “Songs of Hafiz” website features the same poem—the first ghazal in the Divan of Hafez—as rendered into English by eight different translators. It showcases how different poets interpret the same text (the original Persian is included as the final version). Hafez’s lines change as the translators make important editorial decisions: To translate literally or dynamically (that is, to produce an exact translation of Hafez’s words or to reproduce the meaning behind them); to use (or not use) rhyme; to adopt a formal meter or free verse, etc.