Hafez · Ghazal 135 · Like the wind
چو باد، عزم سر کوی یار خواهم کردنفس به بوی خوشش مشکبار خواهم کرد
به هرزه بی می و معشوق عمر می‌گذردبطالتم بس از امروز کار خواهم کرد
هر آبروی که اندوختم ز دانش و دیننثار خاک ره آن نگار خواهم کرد
چو شمع صبحدمم شد ز مهر او روشنکه عمر در سر این کار و بار خواهم کرد
به یاد چشم تو خود را خراب خواهم ساختبنای عهد قدیم استوار خواهم کرد
صبا کجاست؟ که این جان خون گرفته چو گلفدای نکهت گیسوی یار خواهم کرد
نفاق و زرق نبخشد صفای دل حافظطریق رندی و عشق اختیار خواهم کرد
This is a ghazal of resolution. "Enough of idleness," Hafez says; "from today I will get to work," and the work he means is love. If you have been drifting, the verse invites you to choose your direction clearly and give yourself to it, as a candle gives itself to the dawn. Let go of pretence, which never cleared anyone's heart, and keep faith with the oldest promise you have made. Then set out like the wind towards what you truly love.
Like the wind, I will set out for the head of the beloved's lane;
I will make my breath musky with her fragrance.
Life is passing in vain without wine and the beloved;
enough of idleness: from today I will get to work.
Whatever honour I have stored up from learning and religion
I will scatter on the dust of that idol's path.
Like a candle at dawn, it has become clear to me through love for her
that I will spend my life upon this business.
In memory of your eye I will make myself a ruin,
and make firm the foundation of the ancient pact.
Where is the east wind? For this blood-soaked soul, like the rose,
I will offer up to the scent of my beloved's tresses.
Hypocrisy and pretence give no purity to the heart of Hafez;
I will choose the path of the rend and of love.