Hafez · Ghazal 209 · It was not fated that your sword should kill me
قتل این خسته به شمشیر تو تقدیر نبودور نه هیچ از دل بی‌رحم تو تقصیر نبود
من دیوانه چو زلف تو رها می‌کردمهیچ لایق‌ترم از حلقه زنجیر نبود
یا رب این آینه حسن چه جوهر دارد؟که در او آه مرا قوت تأثیر نبود
سر ز حسرت به در میکده‌ها برکردمچون شناسای تو در صومعه یک پیر نبود
نازنین‌تر ز قدت در چمن ناز نرستخوش‌تر از نقش تو در عالم تصویر نبود
تا مگر همچو صبا باز به کوی تو رسمحاصلم دوش به جز ناله شبگیر نبود
آن کشیدم ز تو ای آتش هجران که چو شمعجز فنای خودم از دست تو تدبیر نبود
آیتی بود عذاب انده حافظ بی توکه بر هیچ کسش حاجت تفسیر نبود
Hafez has been through a hard trial of longing, yet the very first line carries a quiet consolation: it was not fated that he be destroyed. Whatever has been testing you was not meant to break you either. When he could find no understanding in the expected places, he looked elsewhere and found it; you may need to do the same. Your sighs at dawn are not wasted. Feel what you feel without needing to explain it, for some sorrows are plain to all who love. Rest in knowing that you have survived, and will.
It was not destined that this weary one be killed by your sword;
otherwise, your merciless heart fell short in nothing.
When I, the madman, was let loose like your curl,
nothing suited me better than the ring of a chain.
O Lord, what is the metal of this mirror of beauty,
that my sigh had no power to cloud it?
Out of longing I lifted my head at the tavern doors,
since in the cloister there was not one elder who knew you.
No stature more graceful than yours has grown in the meadow of grace;
no image sweeter than yours was in the world of pictures.
Hoping that, like the breeze, I might reach your lane again,
last night I had nothing but the lament before dawn.
I suffered so from you, O fire of separation, that like the candle
I had no remedy against you but to burn myself away.
The torment of Hafez's grief without you was a verse
that needed no commentary for anyone.