Hafez · Ghazal 253 · The tulip field of life
ای خرم از فروغ رخت لاله زار عمربازآ که ریخت بی گل رویت بهار عمر
از دیده گر سرشک چو باران چکد رواستکاندر غمت چو برق بشد روزگار عمر
این یک دو دم که مهلت دیدار ممکن استدریاب کار ما که نه پیداست کار عمر
تا کی می صبوح و شکرخواب بامدادهشیار گرد، هان که گذشت اختیار عمر
دی در گذار بود و نظر سوی ما نکردبیچاره دل که هیچ ندید از گذار عمر
اندیشه از محیط فنا نیست هر که رابر نقطه دهان تو باشد مدار عمر
در هر طرف ز خیل حوادث کمین‌گهیستزان رو عنان‌گسسته دواند سوار عمر
بی عمر زنده‌ام من و این بس عجب مدارروز فراق را که نهد در شمار عمر
حافظ سخن بگوی که بر صفحه جهاناین نقش ماند از قلمت یادگار عمر
This ghazal is a gentle wake-up call. Life passes like lightning, and the moments in which we can be with those we love are only one or two breaths long. Hafez asks you not to drowse through them. If there is something you have been meaning to say or do, a person to see or a word to write, do it while the chance is here. He also offers comfort: the one whose life turns around love need not fear the passing of time. Whatever you create from the heart will remain as a keepsake of your life.
O you, by whose radiant face the tulip field of life is glad,
come back, for without the rose of your face the spring of life has fallen.
If tears like rain drip from my eyes, it is fitting,
for in grief for you the days of life have passed like lightning.
In these one or two breaths in which seeing you is still possible,
take care of our affair, for the course of life is uncertain.
How long the morning wine and the sweet sleep of dawn?
Wake up; take care, for the prime of life has passed.
Yesterday she passed by and did not look towards us;
poor heart, which saw nothing of life's passing.
Whoever's life turns around the point of your mouth
has no fear of the ocean of annihilation.
On every side the troops of chance lie in ambush;
that is why the rider of life gallops with broken reins.
I am alive without life, and do not think it strange:
who counts the days of separation as part of life?
Hafez, speak, for on the page of the world
this picture from your pen will remain as life's keepsake.