Ghazal 327

I have a covenant with the beloved: as long as life is in my body,

I will hold the devotees of her lane as dear as my own soul.

I seek the purity of the heart's solitude from that candle of Chigil —

I have the light of my eye and the radiance of my heart from that moon of Khutan.

Since I have obtained a solitude to my heart's desire,

what thought have I of the malice of slanderers in the assembly?

I have a cypress in my house in whose shadow

I am free from the garden's cypress and the meadow's boxwood.

If a hundred armies of beauties set ambush for my heart —

praise God and thanks, I have an idol that defeats armies.

It is fitting that from the ring of her ruby lip I boast of Solomon's power —

since I have the Greatest Name, what fear have I of the demon?

O wise elder, do not fault me for the tavern —

for in abandoning the cup, I have a vow-breaking heart.

For God's sake, O rival, tonight close your eyes for a moment —

for with her silent ruby lip I have a hundred secret words.

Since I stroll in the rose-garden of her fortune — praise God —

I have no desire for tulip and eglantine, nor interest in the wild rose.

Hafez became known for revelry among companions — but

what care have I, when in the world I have Qavam al-Din Hasan.