Poem #74

Time and space's workshop yields not all of this below

bring wine, for worldly trappings are not such a show.

Heart and soul seek only the Beloved's company divine

that aim alone gives worth, else heart and soul are hardly fine.

Seek not Sidra nor Tuba's shade for fleeting bliss

look closely, gliding cypress, even that is less than this.

Fortune comes when heart-blood need not pay the price

with striving and mere labor, even heaven will not suffice.

These five brief days you linger on this mortal stage

rest easy for a spell, for time is not so vast a page.

We stand beside the sea of loss, O Cupbearer bright

seize the chance, for lip to mouth is not so daunting a flight.

Ascetic, trust not jealousy’s sly, shifting snare

the path from cell to Magian hall is nowhere near this far.

My burned and wretched pain, so weak and sore

seems not to call for speeches nor long explanations anymore.

Hafez gained a noble mark upon the scroll, and yet

for libertines the score of gain and loss is never quite like this.