Poem #341
English Translation
Persian
If I were to fear what the pretenders say
my path of wine and wildness would slip away.
گر من از سرزنشِ مدَّعیان اندیشم
شیوهٔ مستی و رندی نَرَوَد از پیشم
The novice zealot seeks a village prize
I am the world's disgrace—why feign to be wise?
زهدِ رندانِ نوآموخته راهی به دِهیست
من که بدنامِ جهانم چه صلاح اندیشم؟
Call me the Sultan of the mad and lost
for in the realm of folly, I have paid the highest cost.
شاهِ شوریده‌سران خوان منِ بی‌سامان را
زان که در کم‌خِرَدی از همه عالم بیشم
Mark on my brow with my own heart's blood this sign
that I am a martyr to your love divine.
بر جَبین نقش کُن از خونِ دلِ من خالی
تا بدانند که قربانِ تو کافِرکیشم
Have faith, pass by, and for God’s sake see
beneath this cloak, what a strange fakir I be.
اعتقادی بِنُما و بِگُذَر بهرِ خدا
تا در این خرقه ندانی که چه نادَرویشم
O Wind, bear my blood-weeping verse to the Friend
whose black lashes brought my life to its end.
شعر خونبارِ من ای باد، بِدان یار رسان
که ز مژگانِ سیَه، بر رگِ جان زد نیشم
If I drink wine or not, what is it to you?
I keep my own secrets, and my time is true.
من اگر باده خورم ور نه چه کارم با کس؟
حافظِ رازِ خود و عارفِ وقتِ خویشم
Cultural Context
US Interest Rank: 8/10. This poem expresses self-awareness and defiance. The verse about asking to make 'a mole on the forehead from the blood of my heart' so they know 'I am the sacrifice of yours, infidel-religion' is a powerful statement. The observation that Hafez is 'the keeper of the secret of my own and the knower of the time of my own' is a profound statement. The poem's combination of self-awareness and defiance makes it very engaging.