IN THE hour of dawn the bird of the garden thus spoke to a freshly blown rose: "Be less disdainful, for in this garden hath bloomed many a one like thee." The rose smiled, and said, "We have never grieved at hearing the truth; but no lover would speak so harshly to his beloved!» To all eternity, the odor of love will never reach the brain of that man who hath never swept with his brow the dust from the sill of the wine-house. Dost thou desire to drink the ruby-tinted wine from that goldbegemmed goblet, how many a pearl must thou first pierce with the point of thine eyelashes! Yesterday, when in the Rose Garden of Irem the morning breeze with its gentle breath began to disturb the hair of the spikenard, I exclaimed, "O throne of Jemshid, where is thy magic worldreflecting mirror ?" and it replied, "Alas! that that watchful Fortune should be slumbering!" The words of love are not those that come to the tongue: O Cupbearer, cut short this asking and answering. The tears of Hafiz have cast patience and wisdom into the sea: how could it be otherwise? The burning pangs of love how could he conceal? THE Fast is over, the Festival is come, and hearts are lifted up, and the wine is sparkling in the wine-house, and wine we must drink! The turn of the heavy dealer in abstinence is past, the season of joy is arrived, and of joyous revelers! Why should reproach be heaped upon him, who like me quaffeth wine? This is neither sin nor fault in the jovial lover! The drinker of wine, in whom is no false show and no dissimulation, is better than he who is a trader in semblances. We are neither dissembling revelers, nor the comrades of hypocrites: He who is the knower of all secrets knoweth this. We discharge all our Divine obligations and do evil to no man; and whatever we are told is not right, we say not that it is right. What mattereth it, that thou and I should quaff a few goblets of wine? Wine is the blood of the vine; it is not thy blood! This is not a fault which throweth all into confusion; and were it a fault, where is the man to be found who is free from faults? Hafiz, leave thou the "How" and the "Wherefore," and drink for a moment thy wine: His wisdom hath withholden from us what is the force of the words "How" and "WHEREFORE." HAIL, Shīrāz! incomparable site! O Lord, preserve it from every disaster! God forbid a hundred times that our Roknabād be dimmed, to which the life of Khizar hath given its brightness! For between Jafferabad and Mosella cometh his north wind perfumed with amber. Oh come to Shīrāz, and the overflow of the Holy Spirit implore for it from the man who is the possessor of all perfection! Let no one boast here the sugar-candy of Egypt, for our sweet ones have no reason for the blush of shame. O morning breeze, what news bringest thou of that tipsy lovely one? What information canst thou give me of her condition ? Awaken me not from my dream, O God, that I may sweeten my solitude with that fair vision! Yea, if that sweet one should desire me to pour out my blood, yield it up, my heart, as freely as mother's milk! Wherefore, O Hafiz, if thou wouldst be terrified by the thought of separation, wast thou not grateful for the days of her presence? O LORD, that smiling rose which thou gavest me in charge, I return to thy charge, to preserve her from the envious eye of her meadow. Although she be removed a hundred stages from the village of faithfulness, far be the mischiefs of the revolutions of the moon from her soul and body! Whithersoever she goeth, the heart of her friend shall be the companion of her journey; the kindness of the benevolent the shield of her soul and body! If, morning wind, thou passest by the bounds of Sulima's station, I shall look that thou carry a salutation from me to Sulima. Scatter thy musky fragrance gently upon those black tresses: they are the abode of dear hearts,- do not disturb them! Say to her, "My heart preserveth its vow of fidelity to the mole and down of thy cheek;" therefore hold sacred those amberplaited ringlets. In the place where they drink to the memory of her lip, base would be the intoxicated one who should remain conscious of himself! Merchandise and money expect not to gain at the door of the winehouse. Whoever partaketh of this beverage will cast his pack into the sea. Whoever is in dread of the restlessness of anxiety, not genuine is his love: either be her foot upon my head, or be my lip upon her mouth! The poetry of Hafiz is the primary couplet of wisdom: praise be on her soul-attracting and grace-inspiring breath! I HAVE made a compact with the mistress of my soul, that so long as I have a soul within my body I will hold as mine own soul the well-wishers of her village. In the privacy of my breast I see light from that taper of Chighil; splendor to mine eye and brightness to my heart from that moon of Khoten. Since in accordance with my wishes and yearnings I have gained the privacy of my breast, why need I care for the slander of evil-speakers in the midst of the crowd? If a hundred armies of lovely ones should be lying in ambush to assault my heart, I have, by the mercy and to the praise of Heaven, an idol which will shatter armies to pieces. Would to Heaven, my rival, that this night thou wouldest close thine eye for a while, that I might whisper a hundred words to her silent ruby lips! No inclination have I for tulip, or white rose, or the leaf of the narcissus, so long as by Heaven's grace I walk proudly in the rose garden of her favor. O mine ancient wise one, lay not thy prohibition on the wine-house; for abandoning the wine-cup, I should break a pledge to mine own heart. My beverage is easy of digestion, and my love is beautiful as a picture; no one hath a love-such a love as I have! I have a Cypress in my dwelling, under the shade of whose tall stature I can dispense with the cypress of the grove, and the box-tree of the meadow. I can boast that the seal of her ruby lip is potent as was that of Solomon: in possession of the Great Name, why should I dread the Evil One! After long abstinence, Hafiz is become a notorious reveler; but why grieve, so long as there is in the world an Emin-ad-Din Hassan! |