I and the denial of wine- whose story is this;
do I really have such reason and contentedness?
Day and night I have plundered piety with harp and daf;
now my way is all peace and quiet- how is that?
The ascetic is excused if he declines the rend‘s way-
love is an affair dependent on love’s divine play.
I am the slave of the Magian who has lifted my veil;
whatever our master does is the very eye of the tale.
Until the end, I was not aware of the way of wine;
my abstinence would have long since been declined!
The ascetic- strange in prayer; and I- drunk with poverty;
between the two, which one for you signifies bounty?
Last night, I got no sleep because the hakim was pained:
“if Hafez is drunk, it is good grounds to complain!”
notes: hakim- a learned man, perhaps a doctor or judge.
