Ghazal 286

Last night a sharp-witted man of affairs told me in secret —

and from you one must not hide the wine-seller's secret:

He said: Take things easy upon yourself, for by nature

the world becomes hard on hard-striving people.

And then he gave me a cup from whose radiance in the sky

Venus began to dance and, playing the lute, said: Cheers!

With a bleeding heart, bring a smiling lip like the cup —

not that when a wound reaches you, you cry out like the harp.

Until you become intimate, you will not hear a hint from this curtain —

the ear of the uninitiated is no place for the angel's message.

Listen to counsel, O youth, and do not grieve for the world —

I have told you a saying precious as a pearl — if you can hold it in mind.

In the sanctuary of love one cannot speak of talk and hearing —

for there, all limbs must be eye and ear.

On the carpet of the subtle-minded, self-display is not the rule —

either speak with knowledge, O wise man, or be silent.

O cupbearer, give wine — for the revelries of Hafez have been understood

by the Solomon-like Asaf, lord of conjunction, sin-forgiver, fault-concealer.