Yesterday, the old wine-seller- may his remembrance be exalted,
Said to me: “Drink wine, and drive sorrow from your heart!”
I replied: “Wine will throw my name and fame to the wind.”
He then said: “Accept my words; let the wind blow as it will.”
“Since cash, and all profit and loss, will one day whirl away,
Say: joy and regret have no place in buying and selling.”
“In your hand will be only wind, if you give your heart to aught
In a place where the Throne of Solomon parades by in air.”
Hafez, if you have found the advice of the wise tedious,
Cut this story short so that your life may grow long!
Solomon’s power was such he could make his Throne
float through the air. Hafez’s Master, the old wine-seller,
is comparing himself to Solomon but, in the last stanza,
Hafez tells himself to shut up: the one who reveals secrets
gets dead.
