Hafez · At dawn they set me free
دوش وقت سحر از غصه نجاتم دادندواندر آن ظلمت شب آب حیاتم دادند
بیخود از شعشعه پرتو ذاتم کردندباده از جام تجلی صفاتم دادند
چه مبارک سحری بود و چه فرخنده شبیآن شب قدر که این تازه براتم دادند
بعد از این روی من و آینه وصف جمالکه در آن جا خبر از جلوه ذاتم دادند
من اگر کامروا گشتم و خوشدل چه عجبمستحق بودم و این‌ها به زکاتم دادند
هاتف آن روز به من مژده این دولت دادکه بدان جور و جفا صبر و ثباتم دادند
این همه شهد و شکر کز سخنم می ریزداجر صبریست کز آن شاخ نباتم دادند
همت حافظ و انفاس سحرخیزان بودکه ز بند غم ایام نجاتم دادند
Few faals are more consoling than this one. Hafez describes release arriving in the darkest part of the night, the water of life found precisely where all seemed dark. The sweetness he now speaks with, he says, is the wage of patience: the steadiness given to him through harsh days was itself the first gift. If you are in a long night, take heart that endurance is not wasted; it is quietly turning into something you will one day offer to others. Keep your resolve, rise early in spirit, and stay close to those who pray and hope. Your dawn is part of the same story as your night.
Last night, at dawn, they set me free from sorrow,
and in that darkness of night they gave me the water of life.
They made me lose myself in the blaze of the light of the Essence;
they gave me wine from the cup of the Attributes' unveiling.
What a blessed dawn it was, what an auspicious night —
that Night of Power when they gave me this new decree.
From now on, my face and the mirror of beauty's praise,
for there they gave me tidings of the Essence's radiance.
If I have won my wish and am glad, what wonder?
I was deserving, and they gave me these as alms.
That day the voice from the Unseen brought me news of this fortune
when, against such cruelty and harshness, they gave me patience and constancy.
All this honey and sugar that flows from my words
is the wage of patience, for which they gave me that stalk of sugar-cane.
It was Hafez's resolve and the breaths of those who rise at dawn
that freed me from the bonds of the world's grief.