Ghazal 120

I have an idol whose brow is shaded by hyacinth over rose,

and the spring of whose cheek holds a line written in the blood of Judas-flowers.

The dust of the new down has veiled the sun of her face — O Lord,

give her eternal life, for she holds eternal beauty.

When I fell in love, I thought I had seized the pearl of my desire —

I did not know what blood-scattering waves this ocean holds.

One cannot escape alive from your eye, for wherever I look

it has laid an ambush from some corner, with arrow on the string.

When she shakes out the snare of her tresses from the dust of lovers' minds,

she tells the tale-bearing breeze: Keep our secret hidden.

Sprinkle a drop upon the earth and hear the state of the heart's people —

for from Jamshid and Kay Khosrow it holds many a tale.

When the rose laughs in your face, do not fall into its trap, O nightingale,

for there is no trusting a rose, though it holds the beauty of the world.

For God's sake, take my case from her, O marshal of the feast —

for she drank wine with another and holds a grudge against me.

If you would bind me to your saddle, for God's sake hunt me soon,

for there is danger in delay, and the seeker suffers loss.

Do not deprive my eye of your heart-winning cypress stature —

seat it by this spring, for it holds a pleasant flowing stream.

Make me safe from the fear of separation, if you hope

that God will keep you in safety from the evil-wishers' eye.

What shall I say of my own fortune? That city-stirring trickster

killed Hafez bitterly, yet holds sugar in her mouth.