Hafez · Ghazal 98 · If in your creed
اگر به مذهب تو خون عاشق است مباحصلاح ما همه آن است کآن تو راست صلاح
سواد زلف سیاه تو جاعل الظلماتبیاض روی چو ماه تو، فالق الأصباح
ز چین زلف کمندت کسی نیافت خلاصاز آن کمانچه ابرو و تیر چشم، نجاح
ز دیده‌ام شده یک چشمه در کنار روانکه آشنا نکند در میان آن، ملاح
لب چو آب حیات تو هست قوت جانوجود خاکی ما را از اوست ذکر رواح
بداد لعل لبت بوسه‌ای به صد زاریگرفت کام دلم زو به صد هزار الحاح
دعای جان تو ورد زبان مشتاقانهمیشه تا که بود متصل مسا و صباح
صلاح و توبه و تقوی ز ما مجو حافظز رند و عاشق و مجنون کسی نیافت صلاح
You may be tempted to give up on something that is taking longer than you hoped. Hafez admits it took a hundred laments and a hundred thousand pleas before his wish was granted, and yet it was granted. Persistence, offered with love rather than demand, has its reward. Keep your hope alive the way the lovers in this ghazal keep their prayer: every evening and every morning. Accept what you are, unconventional heart and all, and trust that your wish is heard.
If in your creed the blood of the lover is lawful,
then all our good lies in whatever is good to you.
The blackness of your dark curl is the Maker of Darkness;
the whiteness of your moon-like face, the Cleaver of Dawns.
No one has found release from the twist of your lasso curl,
nor any success against that little bow of your brow and the arrow of your eye.
From my eyes a fountain flows at my side,
so deep that even a sailor could not swim in it.
Your lip, like the water of life, is the nourishment of the soul;
from it our earthly being keeps the memory of wine.
Your ruby lip gave a kiss after a hundred laments;
my heart had its wish from it after a hundred thousand pleas.
Prayer for your soul is the daily litany of those who yearn,
for ever, as long as evening is joined to morning.
Do not look for good conduct, repentance or piety from us, Hafez:
no one ever found good conduct in a rend, a lover, or a madman.