Hafez · Ghazal 309 · Love, youth and ruby wine
عشقبازی و جوانی و شراب لعل‌فاممجلس انس و حریف همدم و شرب مدام
ساقی شکردهان و مطرب شیرین‌سخنهمنشینی نیک‌کردار و ندیمی نیک‌نام
شاهدی از لطف و پاکی رشک آب زندگیدلبری در حسن و خوبی غیرت ماه تمام
بزم‌گاهی دل‌نشان، چون قصر فردوس برینگلشنی پیرامنش چون روضه دارالسلام
صف‌نشینان نیک‌خواه و پیشکاران باادبدوست‌داران صاحب‌اسرار و حریفان دوست‌کام
باده گلرنگ تلخ تیز خوش‌خوار سبکنقلش از لعل نگار و نقلش از یاقوت خام
غمزه ساقی به یغمای خرد آهخته تیغزلف جانان از برای صید دل گسترده‌دام
نکته‌دانی بذله‌گو چون حافظ شیرین‌‌سخنبخشش‌آموزی جهان‌افروز چون حاجی قوام
هر که این عشرت نخواهد خوش‌دلی بر وی تباهوان که این مجلس نجوید زندگی بر وی حرام
Hafez paints the perfect gathering: good wine, youth, a sweet voice, honest friends who keep each other's secrets, a garden like paradise and generous hearts. It is a picture of what makes life rich, and most of it is made of people. For your question, this ghazal encourages you to seek out and value good company: friends of good name, kind and discreet, who wish you well. Gather them, enjoy them, and do not turn away from the gladness life offers. Joy shared well is part of a good life.
Love-play and youth and ruby-coloured wine,
a gathering of intimates, a kindred companion and wine without end;
a sugar-lipped saqi and a sweet-voiced minstrel,
a companion of good deeds and a friend of good name;
a beauty whose grace and purity make the water of life envious,
a heart-stealer whose loveliness makes the full moon jealous;
a banquet hall that delights the heart, like the palace of highest paradise,
with a rose garden around it like the garden of the Abode of Peace;
well-wishers seated in rows and courteous attendants,
friends who keep secrets and companions who wish the friend well;
rose-coloured wine, bitter, sharp, smooth to drink and light,
its sweetmeat the beloved's ruby lip, its talk of raw rubies;
the saqi's glance with sword drawn to plunder reason,
the beloved's curl spread wide as a snare to catch the heart;
a wit and teller of jokes, like sweet-spoken Hafez,
a teacher of generosity who lights up the world, like Haji Qavam.
Whoever does not want this joy, may gladness be ruined for him;
and whoever does not seek this gathering, life is forbidden to him.