Poem #473

Seize the moment! Count it spoil and prize;

Life's only gain in this one breath lies.

Life is the price the Wheel demands for joy;

Strive to win pleasure, and your time employ.

Gardener, when I am gone, forbid the air

to any cypress but my Friend so fair.

The ascetic shall regret his sober way

and seek the wine he scorns in light of day.

The Censor knows not what the Sufis hold:

A homemade ruby, precious to behold.

Boast not, sweet lips, against the night-bird's prayer;

Solomon's seal is guarded by that care.

Hear Love's advice, return to joy's bright door;

The fleeting world is worth this and no more.

My Joseph's gone! Brothers, have mercy now;

See how grief furrows Jacob's ancient brow.

Speak not of wine where sober zealots reign;

Tell not the doctor of the hidden pain.

You walk too fast in pride of beauty's sway;

I fear you'll falter on this perilous way.

I guarded my heart from your eye's sharp dart

but your arched brow claimed it for its part.

Gather lost Hafez with a kindly hand

You, whose curls tangle all the wits of the land.

If you are free of care for my sad state

to Asaf's justice I will leave my fate.