An omen from Hafez
Ghazal 242
Come, for the victorious banner of the king has arrived;
the news of triumph and glad tidings have reached the sun and moon.
The beauty of fortune has cast the veil from the face of victory;
the perfection of justice has answered the cry of the plaintiff.
The sphere now turns aright, for the moon has come;
the world now attains its heart's desire, for the king has come.
From the highwaymen of the road they are safe at last —
the caravans of heart and knowledge — for the man of the way has come.
The dear one of Egypt, despite his envious brothers,
has risen from the pit's depth and reached the moon's own height.
Where is the Sufi of Antichrist's deeds and heretic's cast?
Say: burn him, for the Mahdi, refuge of the faith, has come.
O breeze, tell what has come upon my head in this grief of love,
from the fire of the burning heart and the smoke of the sigh.
From longing for your face, O king, upon this captive of parting
has fallen the very fate that fire brings to a blade of straw.
Go not to sleep, for Hafez has reached the court of acceptance
by the midnight litany and the lesson of the dawn.