come sufi, and we will rip off the cloak of hypocrisy,
and draw a line defacing this portrait of fraud.
we will pledge the alms and offerings of the monastery-
we will wash the cloak of deceit with wine-house water.
the secret of fate concealed by the invisible curtain-
intoxicated, we will draw the veil from its cheek.
we will jump out, tipsy with joy at the sufi’s banquet,
and plunder all, taking wine and beauty to our side!
we will enjoy ourselves, or, if not, die from regret
on the day we take the soul’s affairs to another world.
where the glance from his arched brow like the new moon,
for us to play the ball of time with the chaugan of gold?
if, tomorrow, the garden of paradise is not granted to us,
servants and houris from heaven will be dragged to the door.
hafez, it is not within our right to boast like this-
why shove the foot out from under one’s own blanket?
notes: chaugan= a hockey like playing stick, but which
carries the ball in its curved (crescent like) end. gold=
presumably refers to the golden hue of the crescent moon.
houris= astral girlfriend promised to the good (male)
muslim in the afterlife. last line= proverb
