An omen from Hafez
Ghazal 449
O you who deem the lovers' estrangement lawful,
and hold the lovers cut off from your side —
Succour the desert's thirsting one with some pure water,
in hope of what you hold with God upon this road.
You bore my heart away — I freed you of it, O soul; yet
keep it more kindly than this state in which you hold me.
Our goblet, which the other comrades freely drink —
we will not brook it, if you deem the thing but lawful.
O fly, the Simurgh's court is no galloping-ground for you;
you only lose your own honour and give us trouble.
By your own failing you fell shut out from this door;
of whom do you complain, and why do you raise a cry?
Hafez, kings grant rank only after service rendered;
with no effort spent, what hope of gift do you hold?