Hafez · Ghazal 317 · I say it openly
فاش می‌گویم و از گفته خود دلشادمبنده عشقم و از هر دو جهان آزادم
طایر گلشن قدسم چه دهم شرح فراق؟که در این دامگه حادثه چون افتادم
من ملک بودم و فردوس برین جایم بودآدم آورد در این دیر خراب‌آبادم
سایه طوبی و دلجویی حور و لب حوضبه هوای سر کوی تو برفت از یادم
نیست بر لوح دلم جز الف قامت دوستچه کنم حرف دگر یاد نداد استادم
کوکب بخت مرا هیچ منجم نشناختیا رب از مادر گیتی به چه طالع زادم؟
تا شدم حلقه به گوش در میخانه عشقهر دم آید غمی از نو به مبارکبادم
می‌خورد خون دلم مردمک دیده، سزاستکه چرا دل به جگرگوشه مردم دادم
پاک کن چهره حافظ به سر زلف ز اشکور نه این سیل دمادم ببرد بنیادم
Hafez speaks here as a bird from a higher garden who has landed in a world of snares, and yet he says, gladly, that serving love has made him free. If you feel out of place or misunderstood, as if no one can read the star you were born under, this verse reassures you that your heart knows one letter well, the one that matters. Let the rest go. Sorrows may still visit, but your true allegiance gives you a freedom that circumstance cannot take.
I say it openly, and I am glad of what I say:
I am the slave of love, and free of both worlds.
I am a bird from the garden of holiness; how can I tell of separation,
of how I fell into this snare of chance and happening?
I was an angel, and the highest paradise was my home;
Adam brought me into this ruined, half-built monastery.
The shade of the Tuba tree, the comfort of the houris and the edge of the pool
have all slipped from my memory in longing for your lane.
On the tablet of my heart there is nothing but the alef of the Friend's stature;
what can I do? My teacher taught me no other letter.
No astrologer has recognised the star of my fortune;
O Lord, under what sign was I born from the mother of the world?
Since I became a ringed slave at the door of love's tavern,
every moment a new sorrow comes to congratulate me.
The pupil of my eye drinks my heart's blood, and that is fitting,
for why did I give my heart to someone else's darling?
With the tip of your curl, wipe the tears from Hafez's face,
or else this endless flood will sweep away my foundation.