An omen from Hafez
Ghazal 360
If from this ruined stage I turn my steps toward home,
then, wherever I go henceforth, I go as one wise and prudent.
If from this journey I return in safety to my native land,
I have made a vow that from the very road I will go to the tavern.
That I may tell what was revealed to me from this wayfaring,
I will go to the cloister's door with the barbat and the wine-cup.
Though the intimates of love's road should drink my blood in earnest,
I am a wretch, if in complaint I go toward a stranger.
Henceforth my hand, and the chain-like tress of the Beloved;
how long, how long, shall I go pursuing the mad heart's desire?
If I should see again the arch of her prayer-niche-like brow,
I will make a prostration of thanks, and go to render my thanksgiving.
Blessed that hour when, like Hafez, in devotion to the vizier,
merry from the tavern, with the Friend I go home.