Wow, what a coincidence. I've just randomly checked Hubski today and I see this. In the past month I've been really interested in Persian and Hebrew poets from this era after buying a small book of translations of Yehuda Halevi. Practically every poem has been deeply moving and very well written, so it might be worth checking him out if you haven't already. As I say I've taken a real interest in these poets. Last week I was looking through a book by a British Orientalist called Ouseley on Persian poetry and grammar. The Introduction had some interesting comments on Persian poets, but the rest of the book was on the language itself, which I know nothing of. Nonetheless, I did see a reference in that book to this: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WjxbAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false . This is dedicated to Ouseley and contains early translation efforts of Hafiz's poetry. Maybe some translations appear in both editions and it would be of some interest to you. Definitely good stuff. Do you know any other English translations of poets from this place and time period?
Yeah, I'll definitely check out Halevi. The little bit of his poetry I've read so far has been pretty good, although I have to say I tend to find his rhyme scheme a little bit cheesy. My dad actually recommended another book when he saw that I was reading Hafiz - Stray Birds, written in Bengali and then translated to English by Rabindranath Tagore. I haven't started it yet, but he says it's pretty good.
I haven't at any point felt that Halevi's rhyme scheme is intrusive. The translation I've been reading is by Levin and, assuming you're from the US, is purchaseable: http://www.amazon.com/Poems-Diwan-Poetica-Yehuda-Halevi/dp/0856463337/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407346366&sr=8-1&keywords=levin+diwan Can I ask if you had any particular motivation for reading Hafiz or did you just pick him up?
Thanks for the translation rec, I wouldn't be surprised if my problems with the rhyme scheme were an issue with the translator, not Halevi. I actually first heard some of the poetry from The Gift at a summer camp I went to a couple years back, one of the counselors read it to us every once in a while and I really enjoyed it. Finally a few weeks ago I remembered to ask her who the translator was and picked up my own copy.