Ghazal 321

Though I have grown old and weary-hearted and feeble,

whenever I remembered your face, I became young.

Thanks to God — for whatever I sought from God,

I attained at the summit of my aspiration.

O young rosebush, enjoy your good fortune —

for in your shade I became the nightingale of the garden of the world.

At first I had no knowledge of above and below of existence —

in the school of your grief, I became such a subtle scholar.

Destiny keeps referring me to the tavern —

though I became this way and that way.

That day the door of meaning opened upon my heart

when I became one of the dwellers at the Magian elder's threshold.

On the royal road of eternal fortune, on the throne of luck,

with the cup of wine I came to the desire of friends' hearts.

From the time the sedition of your eye reached me,

I became safe from the evil of the sedition of the end of time.

I am not old from years and months — life is unfaithful:

since life passes me by, that is why I grew old.

Last night the good news of grace came: Hafez,

come back — for I have become the guarantor of your sin's forgiveness.