Poems from the Divan of Hafiz
From Canaan Joseph shall return, whose face A little time was hidden: weep no more— Oh, weep no more! in sorrow’s dwelling-place The roses yet shall spring from the bare floor! And heart bowed down beneath a secret pain— Oh stricken heart! joy shall return again, Peace to the love-tossed brain—oh, weep no more!
Oh, weep no more! for once again Life’s Spring Shall throne her in the meadows green, and o’er Her head the minstrel of the night shall fling A canopy of rose leaves, score on score. The secret of the world thou shalt not learn, And yet behind the veil Love’s fire may burn— Weep’st thou? let hope return and weep no more!
To-day may pass, to-morrow pass, before The turning wheel give me my heart’s desire; Heaven’s self shall change, and turn not evermore The universal wheel of Fate in ire. Oh Pilgrim nearing Mecca’s holy fane, The thorny maghilan wounds thee in vain, The desert blooms again—oh, weep no more!
What though the river of mortality Round the unstable house of Life doth roar, Weep not, oh heart, Noah shall pilot thee, And guide thine ark to the desirèd shore! The goal lies far, and perilous is thy road, Yet every path leads to that same abode Where thou shalt drop thy load—oh, weep no more!
Mine enemies have persecuted me, My Love has turned and fled from out my door— God counts our tears and knows our misery; Ah, weep not! He has heard thy weeping sore. And chained in poverty and plunged in night, Oh Hafiz, take thy Koran and recite Litanies infinite, and weep no more!