Hafez · Ghazal 436 · If she had written us a letter
آن غالیه‌خط گر سوی ما نامه نوشتیگردون ورق هستی ما درننوشتی
هر چند که هجران ثمر وصل برآرددهقان جهان! کاش که این تخم نکشتی
آمرزش نقد است کسی را که در این جایاری‌ست چو حوری و سرایی چو بهشتی
در مصطبه عشق تنعم نتوان کردچون بالش زر نیست، بسازیم به خشتی
مفروش به باغ ارم و نخوت شدادیک شیشه می و نوش‌لبی و لب کشتی
تا کی غم دنیای دنی ای دل دانا؟حیف است ز خوبی که شود عاشق زشتی
آلودگی خرقه، خرابی جهان استکو راهروی، اهل دلی، پاک‌سرشتی؟
از دست چرا هشت سر زلف تو حافظ؟تقدیر چنین بود، چه کردی که نهشتی؟
Hafez reminds you that paradise is not only a future promise: whoever has a true friend and a peaceful home already holds it in hand. Do not trade simple, real happiness for grand displays or for worry about a world that does not deserve your grief. Love does not always come with golden pillows; sometimes a brick will do, and it is enough. If something slipped from your grasp, do not blame yourself too harshly. Some things are as they were meant to be.
If that one with the ambergris down had written us a letter,
the sky would not have folded up the page of our existence.
Though separation bears the fruit of union,
O farmer of the world, I wish you had never sown this seed.
Forgiveness is ready cash for anyone who has, here and now,
a friend like a houri and a house like paradise.
On the bench of love one cannot live in luxury;
since there is no golden pillow, we will make do with a brick.
Do not trade, for the garden of Iram and the pride of Shaddad,
one flask of wine, a sweet-lipped friend, and the edge of a field.
How long, O wise heart, this grief for the mean world?
It is a pity for the good to fall in love with the ugly.
The stain on the cloak is the ruin of the world;
where is a traveller, a person of heart, someone pure by nature?
Why did Hafez let the end of your curl slip from his hand?
It was fated so: what could you have done to keep it?