Hafez · Ghazal 452 · For the sake of love
طفیل هستی عشقند آدمی و پریارادتی بنما تا سعادتی ببری
بکوش خواجه و از عشق بی‌نصیب مباشکه بنده را نخرد کس به عیب بی‌هنری
می صبوح و شکرخواب صبحدم تا چند؟به عذر نیم‌شبی کوش و گریه سحری
تو خود چه لعبتی ای شهسوار شیرین‌کارکه در برابر چشمی و غایب از نظری؟
هزار جان مقدس بسوخت زین غیرتکه هر صباح و مسا شمع مجلس دگری
ز من به حضرت آصف که می‌برد پیغامکه یاد گیر دو مصرع ز من به نظم دری؟
بیا که وضع جهان را چنان که من دیدمگر امتحان بکنی می خوری و غم نخوری
کلاه سروریت کج مباد بر سر حسنکه زیب بخت و سزاوار ملک و تاج سری
به بوی زلف و رخت می‌روند و می‌آیندصبا به غالیه سایی و گل به جلوه‌گری
چو مستعد نظر نیستی وصال مجویکه جام جم نکند سود وقت بی‌بصری
دعای گوشه‌نشینان بلا بگرداندچرا به گوشه چشمی به ما نمی‌نگری؟
بیا و سلطنت از ما بخر به مایه حسنوزین معامله غافل مشو که حیف خوری
طریق عشق طریقی عجب خطرناک استنعوذبالله اگر ره به مقصدی نبری
به یمن همت حافظ امید هست که بازاری اسامر لیلای لیلة القمری
Everything that lives, Hafez says, exists for the sake of love, and he invites you to show real devotion, so that real happiness can come. This asks something of you: not only pleasant mornings, but sincere effort, honest prayer, and the readiness to see. The road of love is not without risk, so walk it with care and with your eyes open. If you do, there is good hope that you will sit again in moonlight with what your heart longs for.
Humans and fairies alike exist for the sake of love;
show devotion, so that you may carry off some happiness.
Strive, sir, and do not go without a share of love,
for no one buys a servant with the fault of having no skill.
How long the morning wine and the sugar-sweet sleep of dawn?
Strive for the pleading of midnight and the weeping of daybreak.
What kind of marvel are you, O sweet-working horseman,
that you are before my eyes and yet absent from sight?
A thousand holy souls have burned with this jealousy:
that every morning and evening you are the candle of someone else's gathering.
Who will carry a message from me to the presence of Asaf:
"Learn two lines from me in Dari verse"?
Come, for if you test the state of the world as I have seen it,
you will drink wine and not drink grief.
May the cap of your sovereignty never sit crooked on the head of beauty,
for you are the ornament of fortune, worthy of kingdom and crown.
In the scent of your curl and your face they come and go,
the breeze rubbing out perfume, the rose making display.
Since you are not ready to see, do not seek union,
for Jamshid's cup is no use in a time of blindness.
The prayer of those in seclusion turns misfortune away;
why do you not look at us from the corner of your eye?
Come and buy kingship from us with the capital of beauty,
and do not neglect this bargain, or you will regret it.
The way of love is a strangely dangerous way;
God forbid you should not find your way to the goal.
By the blessing of Hafez's resolve, there is hope that once more
I will sit talking with my Layla on a moonlit night.