An omen from Hafez
Ghazal 404
Cast on the rends' ranks one glance kinder than this;
and by the tavern door make a passage fairer than this.
Toward me, this grace your lip is pleased to grant
is very fair indeed — yet somewhat kinder than this.
That One whose thought unties the world's whole tangled knot —
tell Him: in this affair command a glance kinder than this.
My censor said: 'Save grief, what craft has love to show?'
Go, sagely master — find a craft finer than this.
To that dear, soul-departing heart — what can I do, unless I give it? —
the mother of the age has borne no son fairer than this.
When I say 'Drink the cup, and kiss the cupbearer's lip,'
hear it from me — for none will counsel wiser than this.
Hafez's reed is a sugared fruit of the cane — go pluck it,
for in this garden you'll see no fruit sweeter than this.