Hafez · Ghazal 462 · A smile like a casket of pearls
یا مبسما یحاکي درجا من اللآليیا رب چه درخور آمد گردش خط هلالی
حالی خیال وصلت خوش می‌دهد فریبمتا خود چه نقش بازد این صورت خیالی
می ده که گرچه گشتم نامه‌سیاه عالمنومید کی توان بود از لطف لایزالی
ساقی بیار جامی و از خلوتم برون کشتا در به در بگردم قلاش و لاابالی
از چار چیز مگذر گر عاقلی و زیرکامن و شراب بی‌غش، معشوق و جای خالی
چون نیست نقش دوران در هیچ حال ثابتحافظ مکن شکایت تا می خوریم حالی
صافیست جام خاطر در دور آصف عهدقم فاسقني رحیقا أصفی من الزلال
الملک قد تباهی من جده و جدهیا رب که جاودان باد این قدر و این معالی
مسندفروز دولت، کان شکوه و شوکتبرهان ملک و ملت بونصر بوالمعالی
Hafez speaks here with an easy, forgiving heart. Whatever mistakes may be written in your record, he says, no one need despair of a grace that never ends. Since nothing in the turning world stays fixed, there is little use in complaint; instead, he counts four simple blessings worth holding onto: safety, something pure to share, someone to love, and a quiet place. Look for those in your own life today. They may be closer than you think, and enough to steady you while the picture unfolds.
O smile that resembles a casket of pearls,
Lord, how well the crescent line of down around it suits it!
For now the fancy of union with you sweetly deceives me;
let us see what picture this imagined form will play.
Give wine, for though I have become the world's most black-recorded,
how could anyone despair of the grace that never ends?
Saqi, bring a cup and draw me out of my seclusion,
so I may wander door to door, a vagabond without a care.
Do not pass up four things, if you are wise and shrewd:
safety, pure wine, a beloved, and a quiet place.
Since the pattern of the turning age is never fixed in any state,
Hafez, do not complain; for now, let us drink wine.
The cup of the mind is clear in the time of the Asaf of our age;
rise, and give me a nectar to drink purer than spring water.
The kingdom takes pride in his striving and his fortune;
Lord, may this rank and these high honours last forever.
Brightener of the seat of state, mine of majesty and splendour,
proof of the realm and the faith, Abu Nasr Abu'l-Ma'ali.