If you share our lesson, wash the pages;
the knowledge of love is not found in a notebook.
بشوی اوراق اگر هم درس مایی
که علم عشق در دفتر نباشدBeşûy evrâk eger hem-ders-i mâyî
Ki ilm-i aşk der defter nebâşed
Hafez, Divan, ghazal 162 (14th century).
A poet who speaks of books
tells you to wash the book.
Hafez is no enemy of reading.
He only points to a limit.
Some lessons stay in the notebook.
Some happen to a person.
When the page is washed, the ink goes.
The reader remains.
That is when the real lesson begins.
A lesson whose teacher is unknown.
Its exam gives no warning either.