An omen from Hafez
Ghazal 392
Do you know what fortune is? To gaze upon the sight of the Friend;
to choose the beggar's lot in her street above a monarch's throne.
To cut off greed from one's own life is a light and easy thing; but
from the friend who is one's very life it is hard to tear oneself.
I will go into the garden, like the bud, with a heart drawn tight,
and there, to win a good repute, will rend a shirt in two.
Now, like the breeze, to whisper the hidden secret to the rose;
now to hear from the nightingales the secret of the play of love.
Let not the kiss of the Friend's lip slip from your hand at first,
for at the last you weary of biting your own hand and lip.
Count as a windfall this companionship; for from this forking stage,
once we have passed, we can no more come near to one another.
It seems that Hafez has slipped from the memory of Shah Yahya;
O Lord, bring back to his remembrance the cherishing of the dervish.