Ghazal 362

Union was granted, and kiss and embrace as well —

I am grateful to fortune, and to time as well.

O ascetic, go — for if my star is my star,

I will have the cup in hand, and the beloved's tresses as well.

We do not fault anyone for drunkenness and revelry —

the ruby lip of idols is sweet, and the pleasant wine as well.

O heart, let me give you glad tidings: the morality-guard is gone —

and the world is full of wine, and the wine-breaking idol as well.

To give the mind over to distraction is not wisdom —

ask for a collection and bring a flask as well.

Upon the earthlings of love, sprinkle a sip of her lip —

that the dust may become ruby-colored and musk-raining as well.

Gone is the time the evil eye was watching from ambush —

the enemy has departed from the midst, and tears from the side as well.

Since all creation lives by your scent,

O sun, do not remove your shadow from us as well.

Since the honor of tulip and rose is the bounty of your beauty,

O cloud of grace, rain upon me, the earthly one, as well.

Hafez has become captive to your tresses — fear God,

and the justice of the Solomon-realm Asaf of power as well.

Burhan of kingdom and faith, from whose hand of ministry

the days became a mine of the right hand, and the sea the left as well.

In memory of his radiant mind, the sky at dawn

sacrifices life, and the stars scatter offerings as well.

The ball of the earth is seized by the polo-stick of his justice —

and this arched dome of blue is his fortress as well.

The resolve of your swift rein sets in motion

this steadfast center of the exalted orbit as well.

As long as by consequence the sky and the manner of its turning exist,

there will be the changing of months and years, autumn and spring as well.

May his palace of glory never be empty of lords,

nor of cypress-statured, rose-cheeked cupbearers as well.