Ghazal 375

O Sufi, come — let us pull off the cloak of hypocrisy,

and draw the line of cancellation over this image of deceit.

Let us put the vow-money and alms of the monastery toward wine —

let us wash the cloak of pretense in the water of the tavern.

Tomorrow, if they do not give us the garden of paradise,

we will drag the youths from the garden and the houris from heaven.

We will leap out merrily, and from the feast of the Sufis

we will plunder the wine and draw the beauties to our breast.

Let us make merry — otherwise they will drag us away in regret

on the day we move the belongings of the soul to another world.

The secret of God, which is hidden behind the veil of the unseen —

drunkenly let us draw the veil from its face.

Where is a glimpse of her brow? — so that, like the new moon,

we may draw the ball of the sky into the curve of our golden polo-stick.

Hafez, it is not our place to make such boasts —

why do we stretch our foot further than our blanket?