Ghazal 462

O you whose smile rivals a casket of pearls —

O Lord, how fitting the crescent line of down around it.

For now, the fancy of your union is sweetly deceiving me —

let us see what design this image of fancy will play.

Give wine — for though I have become the black-lettered one of the world,

one cannot be hopeless of the grace of the Eternal.

Cupbearer, bring a cup and draw me out of seclusion —

that I may go door to door, a vagabond and carefree.

Do not neglect four things if you are wise and clever:

safety, unadulterated wine, a beloved, and an empty place.

Since the design of the turning sky is in no state constant,

Hafez, do not complain — let us drink wine for now.

The cup of the mind is pure in the era of the Asaf of the age —

rise and give me a pure wine, clearer than crystal.

The kingdom has boasted of his seriousness and his lineage —

O Lord, may this worth and these heights last forever.

The throne-adorner of fortune, the mine of splendor and majesty —

the proof of kingdom and nation, Abu Nasr Abu al-Ma'ali.