In Pre-Eternity
در ازلBefore the world began, beauty showed itself and love caught fire.
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See it in a roomدر خانه
The same print hung in each room of the house. Pick a room.
در ازل پرتو حسنت ز تجلی دم زد
عشق پیدا شد و آتش به همه عالم زد
In pre-eternity the radiance of your beauty breathed forth in self-revelation; love appeared and set fire to the whole world.
The story
In the opening of this ghazal Hafez imagines the moment before creation, azal, when the radiance of the beloved’s beauty revealed itself, love came into being and set the whole world alight. It is one of his most quoted openings on the origin of love.
Persiahaus Studio set the couplet in ink Nastaliq on a turquoise ground, over a saffron pointed arch, inside a ruled frame with red stars at its corners. The arch rises behind the words like a doorway opening onto light.