Ghazal 229

Fortune gives me no sign from the beloved's mouth —

luck gives me no news of the hidden secret.

For the sake of a kiss from her lip, I give my life —

she takes this from me, yet does not give me that.

I am dying in this separation, and there is no way to that veil —

or there is, and the gatekeeper gives me no sign.

The morning breeze has tousled her tresses — see the base sky,

which does not give me room where that blowing wind goes.

Though like a compass I kept turning at the edge,

time, like the center-point, does not give me a path to the middle.

Sugar comes to hand through patience, in the end — but

the faithlessness of the age does not give me time.

I said: Let me go to sleep and see the friend's beauty —

but Hafez, my sighs and cries give me no rest.