Ghazal 143

For years the heart sought the Cup of Jam from us,

and what it already possessed, it begged from a stranger.

A pearl that lies beyond the shell of existence —

it sought from the lost ones on the shore of the sea.

Last night I took my riddle to the Old Magian,

who, with the confirmation of his gaze, was solving mysteries.

I saw him cheerful and laughing, wine-cup in hand,

and in that mirror he was gazing at a hundred kinds of wonders.

I said: When did the Sage give you this world-revealing cup?

He said: On the day He was making this azure dome.

The heartless one — God was with him in every state,

but he did not see Him, and from afar was crying "O God!"

All these juggling tricks he was performing here —

he was doing them, like Samiri, before the Staff and the White Hand.

He said: That friend, for whom the gallows was raised high —

his crime was this: he was revealing secrets.

If the grace of the Holy Spirit lends its aid once more,

others too will do what Christ was doing.

I said: What is the chain of the beauties' tresses for?

He said: Hafez was making a complaint about his mad heart.