Hafez · Ghazal 168 · My soul melted, but it was not to be
گداخت جان که شود کار دل تمام و نشدبسوختیم در این آرزوی خام و نشد
به لابه گفت شبی میر مجلس تو شومشدم به رغبت خویشش کمین غلام و نشد
پیام داد که خواهم نشست با رندانبشد به رندی و دردی کشیم نام و نشد
رواست در بر اگر می‌تپد کبوتر دلکه دید در ره خود تاب و پیچ دام و نشد
بدان هوس که به مستی ببوسم آن لب لعلچه خون که در دلم افتاد همچو جام و نشد
به کوی عشق منه بی دلیل راه، قدمکه من به خویش نمودم صد اهتمام و نشد
فغان که در طلب گنج نامه مقصودشدم خراب جهانی ز غم تمام و نشد
دریغ و درد که در جست و جوی گنج حضوربسی شدم به گدایی بر کرام و نشد
هزار حیله برانگیخت حافظ از سر فکردر آن هوس که شود آن نگار رام و نشد
Hafez speaks honestly here about trying very hard for something that did not come, however much he planned and gave. If you have been pushing at a door that will not open, this ghazal does not scold you; it understands. Its quiet counsel is in the sixth couplet: do not walk the lane of love without a guide. Effort and cleverness alone are not always enough. Rest from the struggle, seek wise company or a trusted guide, and let what is truly yours come to you without force.
My soul melted away hoping the heart's affair would be fulfilled, but it was not to be;
we burned in this raw longing, but it was not to be.
One night she said, coaxing, "I will be the master of your gathering";
I gladly became her humblest servant, but it was not to be.
She sent word: "I will sit with the rends";
I took the name of rend and drinker of dregs, but it was not to be.
It is no wonder if the dove of the heart beats in the breast,
for it saw the twists and coils of the snare across its road, and escape was not to be.
In the craving to kiss that ruby lip in drunkenness,
how much blood fell into my heart, as into the cup, but it was not to be.
Do not set foot in the lane of love without a guide,
for I made a hundred efforts by myself, but it was not to be.
Alas, in seeking the map to the treasure of my desire
I was ruined by a whole world of grief, but it was not to be.
Pity and pain, that in search of the treasure of presence
I went so often begging at the doors of the generous, but it was not to be.
Hafez devised a thousand ruses from his thinking,
in the hope that the beloved might grow tame, but it was not to be.