An omen from Hafez
Ghazal 303
'I breathed the fragrance of affection, and glimpsed the lightning of union';
come, for I would die at your scent, O breeze from the north.
'O camel-driver, by the beloved's beauty, halt and alight';
for no fair patience is left me in this longing for beauty.
The tale of the night of parting is better left untold,
in thanks that the veil was cast off with the daybreak of union.
Come, for the rose-strewing curtain of the seven-chambered eye
we have stretched wide, to adorn the workshop of fancy.
Since the Friend is bent on peace and pleads for pardon,
one may overlook, in every case, the rival's cruelty.
In my straitened heart is nothing but the fancy of your mouth;
may none, like me, go chasing an impossible dream.
Hafez the stranger fell, a martyr to your love; and yet
pass by our dust, for his blood-price is lawful to you.