Hafez · Ghazal 263 · Launch our boat on the river of wine
بیا و کشتی ما در شط شراب اندازخروش و ولوله در جان شیخ و شاب انداز
مرا به کشتی باده درافکن ای ساقی!که گفته‌اند «نکویی کن و در آب انداز»
ز کوی میکده برگشته‌ام ز راه خطامرا دگر ز کرم با ره صواب انداز
بیار زآن می گلرنگ مشک‌بو جامیشرار رشک و حسد در دل گلاب انداز
اگر چه مست و خرابم، تو نیز لطفی کننظر بر این دل سرگشته خراب انداز
به نیم‌شب اگرت آفتاب می‌بایدز روی دختر گل‌چهر رز، نقاب انداز
مهل که روز وفاتم به خاک بسپارندمرا به میکده بر، در خم شراب انداز
ز جور چرخ چو حافظ به جان رسید دلتبه سوی دیو محن، ناوک شهاب انداز
You may feel you have drifted from the place where your heart was most alive, as if you took a wrong turn somewhere. Hafez asks to be set back on the right road, not in shame but with a simple plea for kindness, and he trusts that kindness will come. Do good and cast it on the water, as the saying goes; it does not vanish. Even at midnight a sun can be found, if you lift the veil from what brings you joy. When sorrow presses, answer it with light rather than with despair.
Come and launch our boat upon the river of wine;
cast a cry and a clamour into the souls of the old and the young.
Throw me into the boat of wine, O saqi,
for they say: "Do good, and cast it on the water."
I turned back from the tavern's lane by a wrong road;
now, out of kindness, set me once more on the right road.
Bring a cup of that rose-coloured, musk-scented wine;
cast sparks of envy and jealousy into the heart of the rosewater.
Though I am drunk and ruined, you too be kind:
cast a glance upon this bewildered, ruined heart.
If at midnight you want the sun,
lift the veil from the face of the rose-cheeked daughter of the vine.
Do not let them commit me to the earth on the day I die;
carry me to the tavern and lay me in the wine-jar.
When, like Hafez, your heart is worn to the soul by the cruelty of the sky,
hurl the arrow of a shooting star at the demon of sorrows.