An omen from Hafez
Ghazal 227
Though this saying comes not easy to the city's preacher —
while he plies hypocrisy and cant, he is no true Muslim.
Learn the rogue's art and be generous, for it is no great feat:
a beast that drinks no wine and never becomes a man.
A pure gem is required to receive the effluence of grace;
not every stone and clod turns pearl and coral.
The Greatest Name performs its work; O heart, be glad,
for by fraud and stratagem the demon turns not Muslim.
Love is my practice, and my hope that this noble art
will not, like the rest, become the cause of my deprivation.
Last night she vowed: tomorrow I grant your heart's desire;
O God, contrive some cause that she repent it not.
A goodness of nature I beg of God for your disposition,
that our mind may nevermore be troubled on your account.
Until the mote possess a lofty aspiration, Hafez,
it never becomes a seeker of the radiant sun's own spring.