Hafez · Ghazal 206 · Before, you thought more of your lovers
پیش از اینت بیش از این اندیشه عشاق بودمهرورزی تو با ما شهره آفاق بود
یاد باد آن صحبت شب‌ها که با نوشین لبانبحث سر عشق و ذکر حلقه عشاق بود
پیش از این کاین سقف سبز و طاق مینا برکشندمنظر چشم مرا ابروی جانان طاق بود
از دم صبح ازل تا آخر شام ابددوستی و مهر بر یک عهد و یک میثاق بود
سایه معشوق اگر افتاد بر عاشق چه شد؟ما به او محتاج بودیم او به ما مشتاق بود
حسن مه رویان مجلس گرچه دل می‌برد و دینبحث ما در لطف طبع و خوبی اخلاق بود
بر در شاهم گدایی نکته‌ای در کار کردگفت بر هر خوان که بنشستم خدا رزاق بود
رشته تسبیح اگر بگسست معذورم بداردستم اندر دامن ساقی سیمین ساق بود
در شب قدر ار صبوحی کرده‌ام، عیبم مکنسرخوش آمد یار و جامی بر کنار طاق بود
شعر حافظ در زمان آدم اندر باغ خلددفتر نسرین و گل را زینت اوراق بود
A bond that seems to have cooled lies at the heart of this ghazal, and Hafez answers it with a wider view: love and friendship have kept one covenant from the first dawn to the last evening. If you and someone dear have drifted, remember that the need runs both ways; you needed them, and they were longing for you. Value goodness of character above outward charm. And take comfort in the beggar's wisdom at the king's door: at every table, God is the provider. What you need will be given.
Before this, you thought more of your lovers than now;
your kindness to us was famous across the horizons.
Remember the company of those nights, when with the sweet-lipped
the talk was of love's secret and of the circle of lovers.
Before they raised this green ceiling and enamel arch,
the vista of my eye was the arch of the beloved's eyebrow.
From the breath of the first dawn to the end of the last evening,
friendship and love have kept one pact and one covenant.
What if the shadow of the beloved fell upon the lover?
We were in need of her, and she was longing for us.
Though the beauty of the moon-faced at the gathering stole heart and faith,
our talk was of grace of nature and goodness of character.
At the king's door a beggar made a fine point:
he said, "At every table where I sat, God was the provider."
If the thread of the rosary broke, hold me excused;
my hand was in the hem of the silver-legged saqi.
If I drank the dawn draught on the Night of Power, do not blame me;
the beloved came merry, and a cup stood at the edge of the niche.
In Adam's time, in the garden of paradise, the verse of Hafez
adorned the pages of the book of the wild rose and the rose.