My mouth is full of words

اگر چه عرض هنر پیش یار بی‌ادبی‌ست

Though displaying one's skill before the beloved is ill-mannered,

زبان خموش، ولیکن دهان پر از عربی‌ست

my tongue is silent, but my mouth is full of eloquence.

پری نهفته رخ و دیو در کرشمه حسن

The fairy hides her face, while the demon flaunts its coquetry of beauty:

بسوخت دیده ز حیرت که این چه بوالعجبی‌ست

my eyes have burned with bewilderment: what a marvel is this?

در این چمن گل بی خار کس نچید، آری

In this meadow no one has picked a rose without a thorn; yes,

چراغ مصطفوی با شرار بولهبی‌ست

the lamp of the Prophet stands beside the spark of Abu Lahab.

سبب مپرس که چرخ از چه سفله‌پرور شد

Do not ask why the wheel of heaven came to favour the base,

که کام‌بخشی او را بهانه بی‌سببی‌ست

for its only excuse for granting wishes is that it has no reason.

به نیم جو نخرم طاق خانقاه و رباط

I would not give half a barleycorn for the arch of the Sufi lodge or hostel,

مرا که مصطبه ایوان و پای خم طنبی‌ست

I whose portico is the tavern bench and whose hall the foot of the wine-jar.

جمال دختر رز، نور چشم ماست مگر

The beauty of the daughter of the vine is the light of our eyes, perhaps

که در نقاب زجاجی و پرده عنبی‌ست

because she wears a veil of glass and a curtain of grape.

هزار عقل و ادب داشتم من ای خواجه

I had a thousand kinds of sense and manners, sir;

کنون که مست خرابم، صلاح بی‌ادبی‌ست

now that I am drunk and ruined, ill manners are the proper course.

بیار می که چو حافظ هزارم استظهار

Bring wine, for like Hafez, I place a thousandfold reliance

به گریه سحری و نیاز نیم‌شبی‌ست

on the weeping of dawn and the plea of midnight.