I need no welcome but my lady’s grace.
Better to drink red wine than tears, say I,
While the lute sings; and if one bid thee cease,
“God is the merciful!” thou shalt reply.
To some, life brings but joy and endless ease;
Ah, let them laugh although the jest be vain!
For me the source of pleasure lay in pain,
And weeping for my lady I found peace.
Hafiz, why art thou ever telling o’er
The tale of absence and of sorrow’s night?