Two Ghazals

Hafez

Ghazal 84

Dear wine boy, bring us wine. The fast's over.
Give us the cup. The well-known past's over.

It's time to say prayers we've long forgotten.
Thank God the break from wine at last's over.

Intoxicate me so I will forget
Those I've known well and those I've passed over.

We catch the scent of what's inside the cup.
We send, in thanks, our deepest prayers over.

From the dead heart new life had reached the soul.
From the soft breeze your perfume passed over.

The prideful ascetic followed danger.
The path to a safe life's been passed over.

I spent all my heart's currency on wine.
My counterfeit coins have been passed over.

How long can one repent in such turmoil?
Pour wine, at last the madness is over.

Don't try to lead Hafez down the hard path.
He's discovered wine. The hard path's over.





Ghazal 85

We couldn't taste his lips before he left.
His light-filled moon face shone no more. He left.

Perhaps, you say, he felt constrained by us.
He broke his chains alone before he left.

We chanted Sura's, said so many prayers ...
We spoke the heart's language before he left.

His gaze said, "I will never leave desire."
We held his gaze in our mirror. He left.

He walked into the meadow full of love.
We'd never felt such spirit before he left.

By weeping when he's gone we're like Hafez.
Our goodbye kept us here before he left.

translated from the Persian by Roger Sedarat