Original content

English translation

Hafez Shirazi - may God the Exalted have mercy upon him. Most of his poems are delicate and pleasing, and some approach the very verge of miracle. His ghazals, compared to the ghazals of others in fluency and smoothness, hold the same rank that the qasidas of Zahir hold compared to the qasidas of others; and the taste of his poetry is close to the taste of Nazari Qohestani. But in Nazari's poetry there is much that is lean and fat [uneven in quality], contrary to Hafez's poetry; and because no trace of affectation is apparent in his verses, they have given him the title Lisan al-Ghayb (the Tongue of the Unseen). Shaykh Kamal Khojandi - may God the Exalted have mercy upon him. In the delicacy of expression and the subtlety of meanings he stands at a rank beyond which nothing can be conceived; but the exaggeration in that has carried his poetry beyond the bounds of fluency, and it has remained empty of the flavor of love and affection. In citing proverbs and in choosing light meters with strange rhymes and refrains that are 'easy yet inimitable' (sahl-e momtane'), he imitates Hasan Dehlavi; yet the abundance of delicate meanings that is in his poetry is not in Hasan's poetry, and those who call him 'the thief of Hasan' may say so on account of that very imitation. In some of his divans this couplet has been seen: No one ever caught me at any breach; It becomes plain that I am the thief of Hasan. And some of the mystics who had attained the company of both Shaykh Kamal and Khwaja Hafez said thus: the company of the Shaykh was better than his poetry, and the poetry of Hafez was better than his company.