Un presagio da Hafez
Ghazal 161
When was fresh verse ever kindled by a mind bowed down with sorrow?
One point of this mystery we have told — and let it rest at that.
Could I but win, for sanctuary, one ring from your ruby lip,
a hundred realms of Solomon would lie beneath my signet-stone.
Grieve not, O heart, beneath the envious tongue that mocks and stings;
it may be that, when next you look, your very good lies here.
Whoever draws no meaning from this fancy-quickening pen,
his likeness is forbidden — were he Cathay's own master-limner.
The cup of wine, the heart's own blood — to each they dealt a portion;
within the wheel of allotment such is the order set.
For rose and rosewater the eternal decree ran thus:
that this one grace the marketplace, and that keep to the veil.
It is not that the rogue's wild love slipped from the mind of Hafez;
this ancient covenant abides until the final day.