Ghazal 5: Dancing Swoons Poem by Hafiz of Shiraz

O breeze! Softly, gently tell that charming gazelle:
'For you, straying in the mount and desert to us befell.

Wherefore the sugar sweet maiden - May she live long -
Deigns to care for her lover, having a sweet tongue?

O rose! Has your beauty made you disdain
To inquire after the health of your bulbul insane?

Only by kindness, you can the hearts of sages win
As you cannot catch the wise bird by snare or gin

I wonder by my troth why fidelity never holds dye
In those endowed with tall stature and black eye

Cup in hand, as you with cohorts drink deep
Keep in mind those who but frivolity reap

In pretty damsels, a single flaw one can see:
Fidelity and beauty together cannot be.'

In heaven, if the song of Hafiz Venus croons
No marvel if it sends Christ in dancing swoons


English Translation © Ali Salami
Tehran, Iran
salami2046@gmail.com