Hafez · Ghazal 229 · Fortune shows me no sign
بخت از دهان دوست نشانم نمی‌دهددولت خبر ز راز نهانم نمی‌دهد
از بهر بوسه‌ای ز لبش جان همی‌دهماینم همی‌ستاند و آنم نمی‌دهد
مردم در این فراق و در آن پرده راه نیستیا هست و پرده دار نشانم نمی‌دهد
زلفش کشید باد صبا چرخ سفله بینکانجا مجال باد وزانم نمی‌دهد
چندان که بر کنار چو پرگار می‌شدمدوران چو نقطه ره به میانم نمی‌دهد
شکر به صبر دست دهد عاقبت ولیبدعهدی زمانه زمانم نمی‌دهد
گفتم روم به خواب و ببینم جمال دوستحافظ ز آه و ناله امانم نمی‌دهد
You may feel you have circled your goal for a long time, like a compass round its centre, without being let in. Hafez knows this frustration and does not pretend otherwise. Yet in the middle of the ghazal he gives the key: sugar comes to hand at last through patience. The way through the curtain may exist even if no one has shown it to you yet. Do not exhaust yourself with sighs that rob you of rest. Let yourself sleep, let the dream come, and trust that what is sweet ripens in its own time.
Fortune shows me no sign of the beloved's mouth;
luck brings me no news of my hidden secret.
For a single kiss from her lips I am giving up my life;
she takes the one from me and will not give the other.
I am dying of this parting, and there is no way through that curtain;
or there is, and the curtain-keeper will not show it to me.
The morning breeze drew back her curl; see the base heavens,
which will not give me even the room the passing wind has.
However much I moved round the edge like a compass,
time, like the point at the centre, will not let me in.
Sugar comes to hand at last through patience, but
the faithlessness of the age will not give me time.
I said, "I will go to sleep and see the beloved's beauty there";
Hafez's sighing and lament will not give me a moment's peace.