13 pages • 26 minutes read
See How the Roses Burn!
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Themes
Multifaceted Love
The theme of love is central to this poem and to Sufism in general. People who follow the Sufi Path of Love, or the Way of the Lover, cultivate love on many levels. The coexistence of these facets of desire—human beloved and divine beloved—can aid in spiritual illumination.
Sufi love poetry is especially concerned with the beloved: The object of desire. In terms of interpreting and translating Hafez’s poetry, defining the beloved should be an inclusive and encompassing process. Pronouns are not gender-specific in Hafez’s native language (and other Persian languages), so his beloved could be of any gender. According to the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, “Persian pronouns give no indication of the gender, and the beloved was frequently a young male ephebe” (Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Edited by Stephen Cushman, Clare Cavanagh, Jahan Ramazani, and Paul Rouzer. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2021, page 1023). Emerson’s English translation of “See How the Roses Burn!” reflects this ambiguity, using gender-inclusive pronouns with the first-person plural “we” (Line 4) and “us” (Line 3). The nature of the speaker’s commands also imply a second person without limiting them to a specific gender.
Connection to God
In addition to human inclusivity, Sufis welcome a variety of divine beloveds (a practice which can be classified as “soft” polytheism). All religious figures, from Jesus to Muhammad, are important guides on the Sufi path, representing a variety of lessons for the Sufi. For Sufis, God should not be limited by the names (or descriptions) of different religions. According to Idries Shah, “divinity is a matter of personal experience” (Shah, Idries. The Sufis. London, The Octagon Press, 2001, page 120) Thus, Sufi “desire” (Line 4) for the divine is highly individual and intimate. Hafez’s poetry, as it is used in Sufi teachings, is intended to open possibilities for being in love with many aspects of God.
The Role of Symbolic Death
One method of uniting with the divine Beloved is through symbolic death. In “See How the Roses Burn!”, the first-person plural “we” (Line 4)—the speaker and reader, or lover and beloved—“perish” at the end of the poem. Sufis use rites of initiation that include experiences called “deaths.” As in many spiritual practices, physical death is not seen as an end in Sufi teachings, but rather a mystical transformation.
This symbolic understanding of death and rebirth is common in Sufi poetry. As the Sufi poet Rumi writes: “By love the dead come alive” (Rumi, as translated by Kabir Helminski. “Mistaking the Lightning for the Sun” in The Rumi Collection: An Anthology of Translations of Malvana Jalaluddin Rumi, Boston, Mass., Shambala Publications, Inc., 1998, page 45.) Hafez’s poem features roses, wine, and fire—all of which are commonly associated with love. “See How the Roses Burn!” can be read as a process of metaphorical death: Due to excessive physical love the speaker “perish[es]” (Line 4), only to be reborn with a more focused form of desire for the Beloved. This philosophy is in keeping with a legend about Hafez: The poet was said to have entered a forty-day vigil hoping to win the love of a woman but, at the end of the vigil, realized he actually desired the love of God.
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