Hafez · Ghazal 216 · That friend who made our house a fairy's home
آن یار کز او خانه ما جای پری بودسر تا قدمش چون پری از عیب بری بود
دل گفت فروکش کنم این شهر به بویشبیچاره ندانست که یارش سفری بود
تنها نه ز راز دل من پرده برافتادتا بود فلک، شیوه او پرده‌دری بود
منظور خردمند من آن ماه که او رابا حسن ادب شیوه صاحب‌نظری بود
از چنگ منش اختر بدمهر به در بردآری چه کنم؟ دولت دور قمری بود
عذری بنه ای دل، که تو درویشی و او رادر مملکت حسن سر تاجوری بود
اوقات خوش آن بود که با دوست به سر رفتباقی همه بی‌حاصلی و بی‌خبری بود
خوش بود لب آب و گل و سبزه و نسرینافسوس که آن گنج روان رهگذری بود
خود را بکش ای بلبل از این رشک که گل رابا باد صبا وقت سحر جلوه‌گری بود
هر گنج سعادت که خدا داد به حافظاز یمن دعای شب و ورد سحری بود
This ghazal looks back on a time of happiness that did not stay. You may be missing someone or something that brightened your days and then moved on, like a traveller who was never meant to settle. Hafez does not ask you to forget. He asks you to see that the sweet hours spent with what you love were the real treasure of life, and that they were not wasted because they passed. Be gentle with yourself, release what was only passing through, and turn to quiet reflection at night and at dawn. From there, new blessings come.
That friend through whom our house was a fairy's dwelling
was, from head to foot, like a fairy, free of every flaw.
My heart said, "For her scent I will settle in this city";
the poor thing did not know its friend was a traveller.
It is not only from my heart's secret that the veil has fallen:
for as long as heaven has turned, its way has been to tear veils.
The one my wisdom chose was that moon
who joined to beauty and courtesy the ways of a true seer.
My unkind star snatched her from my grasp;
yes, what can I do? It was a fortune of the moon's short cycle.
Make some allowance, heart, for you are a dervish, and she
in the kingdom of beauty was born to wear a crown.
The happy times were those spent with the friend;
all the rest was fruitless and unaware.
Sweet were the riverbank and the rose, the green grass and the eglantine;
alas, that flowing treasure was only passing by.
Kill yourself with jealousy, nightingale, for the rose
was showing off its beauty to the morning breeze at dawn.
Every treasure of happiness that God gave to Hafez
came from the blessing of night prayer and the dawn litany.