Peace, one and all…
‘Scattering petals, swishing red wine in the ample cup -
through the torn rooftop of the universe we launch a new way.
Should anguish form a death-squad to wipe out lovers
all of us at the wine-house would rebel, and yank the chair out from under them.
We sloshed rose-water into the wine-cup
packed sugar in the censer of the fragrant wind…
When the sweet lute is at hand, poet, play sweetly
so that waving our hands we may shout a ghazal, and dancing we may toss our heads.
O wind, blow the dust of our lives into the courtyard of the Beautiful
that standing among his fair ones we may gaze upon the King.
One brags about his intellect, another of his grace and charm -
but what are these before the sovereign Judge?
If you want to get back to Eden, come with us to the wine-house.
In time, we shall draw you up: from the dregs of the cup to the clear pool of Paradise.
These days in Shiraz, word-craft and melodious speech are not in fashion.
Hafiz, let’s make our escape, and cast ourselves into another realm’.
(Hafiz Shirazi, trans. by Jeffrey Einboden and John Slater)
