Hafez · Ghazal 53 · A corner of the tavern is my lodge
منم که گوشه میخانه، خانقاه من استدعای پیر مغان، ورد صبحگاه من است
گرم ترانه چنگ صبوح نیست چه باکنوای من به سحر، آه عذرخواه من است
ز پادشاه و گدا، فارغم بحمداللهگدای خاک در دوست، پادشاه من است
غرض ز مسجد و میخانه‌ام، وصال شماستجز این خیال ندارم، خدا، گواه من است
مگر به تیغ اجل، خیمه برکنم ور نیرمیدن از در دولت، نه رسم و راه من است
از آن زمان که بر این آستان نهادم رویفراز مسند خورشید، تکیه‌گاه من است
گناه اگرچه نبود اختیار ما، «حافظ»!تو در طریق ادب باش، گو گناه من است
Hafez speaks here with quiet steadiness. Whatever road he walks, mosque or tavern, his aim is one: to be near what he loves. He needs no grand music; an honest sigh at dawn is enough. He has found the door of his good fortune, and he will not run from it. His last counsel is a gracious one: even when things were not wholly in your control, take responsibility with courtesy and say, "This was mine." Such humility lifts you higher than pride ever could. Keep to your threshold and your sincere aim.
I am the one for whom a corner of the tavern is my Sufi lodge;
the prayer of the Magian elder is my morning litany.
If I have no song of the dawn harp, what of it?
My music at dawn is my sigh asking forgiveness.
Thank God, I have no need of king or beggar;
the beggar in the dust of the Friend's door is my king.
My aim in mosque and tavern is union with you;
I have no other thought, God is my witness.
Unless I strike my tent by the sword of death,
to run from the door of fortune is not my custom or my way.
Since the time I laid my face on this threshold,
my place of rest has been high above the throne of the sun.
Though sin was never ours to choose, Hafez,
keep to the path of courtesy and say: "The sin is mine."