Hafez · Ghazal 252 · If I live, I will reach the tavern again
گر بود عمر، به میخانه رسم بار دگربجز از خدمت رندان نکنم کار دگر
خرم آن روز که با دیده گریان برومتا زنم آب در میکده یک بار دگر
معرفت نیست در این قوم خدا را سببیتا برم گوهر خود را به خریدار دگر
یار اگر رفت و حق صحبت دیرین نشناختحاش لله که روم من ز پی یار دگر
گر مساعد شودم دایره چرخ کبودهم به دست آورمش باز به پرگار دگر
عافیت می‌طلبد خاطرم ار بگذارندغمزه شوخش و آن طره طرار دگر
راز سربسته ما بین که به دستان گفتندهر زمان با دف و نی بر سر بازار دگر
هر دم از درد بنالم که فلک هر ساعتکندم قصد دل ریش به آزار دگر
بازگویم نه در این واقعه حافظ تنهاستغرقه گشتند در این بادیه بسیار دگر
This ghazal carries a quiet promise of return. If you have been away from a place or a way of life that fed your spirit, Hafez is sure you will reach it again. Where your gifts are not understood, it is no failure to take them to someone who values them. Stay loyal to old bonds rather than chasing replacements, and trust that, with a little help from the turning heavens, what was lost can be won back in another way. And if the road feels hard, remember the last line: you are not alone. Many have walked this desert before you.
If I live, I will reach the tavern once again,
and do no other work but serve the rends.
Happy the day when I go with weeping eyes
to sprinkle water at the tavern door once more.
There is no understanding among these people; for God's sake, some way
for me to take my jewel to another buyer!
If the friend has gone and did not honour our old companionship,
God forbid that I should go after another friend.
If the circle of the blue heavens will help me,
I will win her back again with another compass.
My mind would seek well-being, if only they would let it:
her playful glance, and that thieving lock of hers.
See how our sealed secret is being told in tales
every moment, with drum and reed, in one bazaar after another.
Every moment I cry out with pain, for every hour heaven
attacks my wounded heart with some new torment.
Let me say again: Hafez is not alone in what has befallen him;
many others have drowned in this desert.