Hafez · Ghazal 461 · I wrote the tale of my longing
کتبت قصة شوقی و مدمعی باکیبیا که بی تو به جان آمدم ز غمناکی
بسا که گفته‌ام از شوق با دو دیده خودأیا منازل سلمی فأین سلماک؟
عجیب واقعه‌ای و غریب حادثه‌ایأنا اصطبرت قتیلا و قاتلی شاکی
که را رسد که کند عیب دامن پاکت؟که همچو قطره که بر برگ گل چکد پاکی
ز خاک پای تو داد آب، روی لاله و گلچو کلک صنع رقم زد به آبی و خاکی
صبا عبیرفشان گشت ساقیا برخیزو هات شمسة کرم مطیب زاکی
دع التکاسل تغنم فقد جری مثلکه زاد راهروان چستی است و چالاکی
اثر نماند ز من، بی شمایلت، آریأری مآثر محیای من محیاک
ز وصف حسن تو حافظ چگونه نطق زند؟که همچو صنع خدایی ورای ادراکی
You have been carrying a longing for some time, writing it out, perhaps, in thoughts no one else has read. Hafez honours that feeling, and the beauty that stirred it, which he calls as pure as a drop of dew on a rose. But in the middle of the ghazal the breeze rises and he says: leave sloth behind, for the traveller's best provision is a quick and willing step. Let longing become movement. A small, timely action now will serve your heart better than another night of waiting.
I have written the tale of my longing, and my eyes are weeping;
come, for without you grief has worn me to the end of my life.
Many a time I have said in longing to my two eyes,
"O dwellings of Salma, where is your Salma now?"
A strange event, an extraordinary happening:
I, the slain, keep patient, and my killer complains.
Who has the right to find fault with your pure hem?
For you are pure as the drop that falls on a rose petal.
From the dust of your feet the face of the tulip and the rose was given its lustre,
when the pen of creation wrote upon water and clay.
The breeze is scattering ambergris; saqi, rise
and bring the sun of the vine, fragrant and pure.
Leave sloth behind and you will gain, for there is a saying:
the provision of travellers is quickness and agility.
Without your likeness no trace of me remains; yes,
I see that the marks of my life are your face.
How can Hafez find words to describe your beauty,
when, like God's own handiwork, you are beyond understanding?