If this fair Turk of Shiraz should grant the wishes of my heart, for the love of her black mole alone I would give her Samarkand and Bukhara.
Bring, O cupbearer, bring the rest of our wine, for Thou couldst find neither the bank of Ruknabad nor the gardens of Gulgashat or Musalla in Paradise.
Alas! Like ravaging Turks who plunder and lay waste the table of a feast, these beauties with their gentle glances, these pearls of loveliness whose charms set every heart ablaze, have destroyed the peace I once enjoyed.
In the fullness of her beauty, our beloved has no concern for our imperfect love. What need has a lovely face of rouge, of colour, of a mole, or of the down just beginning to appear upon the cheek?
I knew well that, seeing Joseph’s beauty grow more radiant each day, love would at last lift the veil beneath which Zuleikha’s virtue lay concealed.
Bring, O cupbearer, bring the rest of our wine, for Thou couldst find neither the bank of Ruknabad nor the gardens of Gulgashat or Musalla in Paradise.
Alas! Like ravaging Turks who plunder and lay waste the table of a feast, these beauties with their gentle glances, these pearls of loveliness whose charms set every heart ablaze, have destroyed the peace I once enjoyed.
In the fullness of her beauty, our beloved has no concern for our imperfect love. What need has a lovely face of rouge, of colour, of a mole, or of the down just beginning to appear upon the cheek?
I knew well that, seeing Joseph’s beauty grow more radiant each day, love would at last lift the veil beneath which Zuleikha’s virtue lay concealed.
Repeat, O cupbearer, repeat to us thy refrains that speak of wine and dancing: a little less zeal in seeking the mysteries of creation; for, behold, no one hitherto has solved this riddle by science, and no one shall solve it.
Listen well to this counsel, O my soul! listen to it, for young men favoured by Heaven prefer the advice of an old sage to their own lives.
Thou hast rebuked me; I am delighted—may God reward Thee, thou hast done well, for words tinged with bitterness befit ruby lips from which sweetness flows.
This ode, O Hafiz, a true pearl that thou hast pierced, come sing it to us in thy charming voice, so that Heaven, loosening the knot that holds the casket of the Pleiades, may make them rain down upon thee as an offering.
Listen well to this counsel, O my soul! listen to it, for young men favoured by Heaven prefer the advice of an old sage to their own lives.
Thou hast rebuked me; I am delighted—may God reward Thee, thou hast done well, for words tinged with bitterness befit ruby lips from which sweetness flows.
This ode, O Hafiz, a true pearl that thou hast pierced, come sing it to us in thy charming voice, so that Heaven, loosening the knot that holds the casket of the Pleiades, may make them rain down upon thee as an offering.