Hafez lived in Shiraz from 1300 to 1389. His verses are well-known to all Persians and, six centuries later, have still value as aphorisms. His extraordinary popularity is due to his simple and frequently discursive language, rid of any affection and to the use he makes of familiar images and of proverbial expressions. Persians feel that his best poetry is the "Ghazal" engraved on his tomb.

The Ghazal is a six to fifteen verse composition in which the verses are linked together by a unity of inspiration and of symbolism rather than by a logical sequence of ideas. Here are a few verses: "Sit near my tomb and bring wine and music. Feeling thy presence, I shall come out of my sepulchre. Rise, softly moving creature, and let me contemplate thy beauty."