Poem #73
English Translation
Persian
Bright with your face's radiance, no sight remains unblessed
indebted to your threshold's dust, no eye escapes caress.
روشن از پرتوِ رویت نظری نیست که نیست
مِنَّت خاکِ درت بر بصری نیست که نیست
All who gaze upon your face are seers, this we concede
the secret of your tresses rests in every head we read.
ناظرِ روی تو صاحب نظرانند آری
سِرِّ گیسوی تو در هیچ سَری نیست که نیست
If my tattling tears run red, what wonder lingers there?
Ashamed of their own deeds, no veil they fail to tear.
اشکِ غَمّازِ من ار سرخ برآمد چه عجب؟
خجل از کردهٔ خود پرده دری نیست که نیست
Till her breeze lays dust upon my lap's soft seam
each passer glimpsed becomes a torrent in my stream.
تا به دامن ننشیند ز نسیمش گَردی
سیل خیز از نظرم ره‌گذری نیست که نیست
Until they stop the talk of your tresses' dusky night
no dawn arrives without my talk with zephyrs in first light.
تا دم از شامِ سرِ زلفِ تو هر جا نزنند
با صبا گفت و شنیدم سحری نیست که نیست
I brood on this unruly fate, for otherwise
there's no one left who fails to share your quarter's prize.
من از این طالع شوریده بِرَنجَم ور نی
بهره‌مند از سَرِ کویت دگری نیست که نیست
From your sweet modest lip, O fountain-bright
each sugar now dissolves in water and in sweat.
از حیایِ لبِ شیرینِ تو ای چشمهٔ نوش
غرق آب و عرق اکنون شکری نیست که نیست
Best the secret stay behind the veiling gauze
else in the revelers' court no rumor ever stalls.
مصلحت نیست که از پرده برون افتد راز
ور نه در مجلسِ رندان خبری نیست که نیست
In love's wide wilderness a lion turns to fox
alas this road where every step conceals a mortal shock.
شیر در بادیهٔ عشق تو روباه شود
آه از این راه که در وی خطری نیست که نیست
My tearful streams owe all they are to your door's dust
beneath their hundred favors, no sea-sand dares distrust.
آب چشمم که بر او مِنَّت خاکِ درِ توست
زیرِ صد مِنَّتِ او خاکِ دری نیست که نیست
Some sign of me still lingers, yes, a token small
else weakness there would leave no faintest trace at all.
از وجودم قَدَری نام و نشان هست که هست
ور نه از ضعف در آن جا اثری نیست که نیست
Save this one point—that Hafez feels displeased with you
through all your form no craft or grace is ever missing too.
غیر از این نکته که حافظ ز تو ناخشنود است
در سراپای وجودت هنری نیست که نیست
Cultural Context
US Interest Rank: 6/10. This poem uses the repeated phrase 'nist ke nist' (is not that is not) creating a complex negative structure that may be challenging for Western readers. The poem's structure as a series of negations is more appreciated by those familiar with Persian poetic conventions. The verse about a lion becoming a fox in the desert of love is a striking image. The final verse's acknowledgment that Hafez is displeased, despite all the beloved's perfections, adds a touch of honesty. The poem's intricate wordplay and structure may be less immediately accessible.
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