Un presagio da Hafez
Ghazal 393
It is I who am renowned throughout the city for the practice of love;
it is I who have never defiled my eye with the sight of evil.
We keep our faith, and bear the blame, and yet remain rejoicing,
for in the creed we follow, to take offence is infidelity.
I asked the Elder of the tavern: what is the road to salvation?
He called for the cup of wine, and answered: the covering over of faults.
What does the heart desire from the spectacle of the world's wide garden?
To pluck the rose from your fair cheek with the pupil of the eye.
By wine-worship I struck the image of my self upon the water,
that I might bring to ruin the whole design of worshipping the self.
I put my trust in the mercy that dwells in the head of your tress; else,
when no drawing comes from that side, what profit lies in striving?
We will turn the rein toward the tavern away from this assembly,
for the preaching of the deedless is a thing best left unheard.
Learn from the Friend's own down to cherish love with a lovely cheek,
for round about the cheek of the fair it is sweet to wander and rove.
Kiss nothing, Hafez, but the cupbearer's lip and the cup of wine,
for it is a grave error to kiss the hand of the sellers of piety.