Hafez · Ghazal 178 · Whoever became an intimate of the heart
هر که شد محرم دل در حرم یار بماندوان که این کار ندانست در انکار بماند
اگر از پرده برون شد دل من عیب مکنشکر ایزد که نه در پرده پندار بماند
صوفیان واستدند از گرو می همه رختدلق ما بود که در خانه خمار بماند
محتسب شیخ شد و فسق خود از یاد ببردقصه ماست که در هر سر بازار بماند
هر می لعل کز آن دست بلورین ستدیمآب حسرت شد و در چشم گهربار بماند
جز دل من کز ازل تا به ابد عاشق رفتجاودان کس نشنیدیم که در کار بماند
گشت بیمار که چون چشم تو گردد نرگسشیوه تو نشدش حاصل و بیمار بماند
از صدای سخن عشق ندیدم خوشتریادگاری که در این گنبد دوار بماند
داشتم دلقی و صد عیب مرا می‌پوشیدخرقه رهن می و مطرب شد و زنار بماند
بر جمال تو چنان صورت چین حیران شدکه حدیثش همه‌جا در در و دیوار بماند
به تماشاگه زلفش دل حافظ روزیشد که بازآید و جاوید گرفتار بماند
Many things pass in this ghazal: reputations rise and fall, the hypocrite forgets his own faults, cloaks are pawned and lost. What remains, Hafez says, is the sound of love beneath the turning sky, and the heart that keeps loving from first to last. If you fear that being open about your feelings will cost you, he answers that it is better to come out from behind the veil than to stay hidden in illusion. Do not worry about what others say. What you love sincerely is what will last.
Whoever became an intimate of the heart remained in the beloved's sanctuary,
and whoever did not know this work remained in denial.
If my heart has come out from behind the veil, do not blame it;
thank God it did not remain behind the veil of illusion.
The Sufis have all redeemed the clothes they pawned for wine;
only our ragged cloak remained in the tavern-keeper's house.
The muhtasib became a shaykh and forgot his own sins;
it is our story that remains at every corner of the bazaar.
Every ruby wine we took from that crystal hand
became the water of regret and remained in the pearl-raining eye.
Except for my heart, which has gone on loving from first to last,
we never heard of anyone who stayed at this work forever.
The narcissus grew sick wishing to become like your eye;
it never learned your manner, and it remained sick.
I have found no sweeter remembrance than the sound of the word of love
that remains beneath this turning dome.
I had a ragged cloak that hid a hundred faults of mine;
it went in pledge for wine and minstrel, and the zunnar remained.
Before your beauty the painters of China were so bewildered
that their story remains everywhere on door and wall.
One day the heart of Hafez went to gaze upon her curl,
meaning to come back, and remained captive forever.