Classic Poem

God in the rose-time keep me From e'er renouncing wine!
How should I do this folly, Who boast of wit, in fine?

Come, minstrel! To the service Of harp and lute and reed
The sum of all devotion And love let us consign!

Sick of the mosque-school's clamour My heart is; now, awhile
The service of the Loved One I'll do and eke of wine.

When was good faith in Fortune? The winecup bring, that I
Of Jem and Kei may tell thee And of Kawous's line.

Of the Black Book I reck not; For, on the Rising Day,
I shall roll up an hundred Such books by grace Divine.

Where is the day's vauntcourier, To yonder happy fair
That I may make complaining Of parting's night of pine?

Since in the Prime They mingled My clay with wine, o foe,
Say, why should I abandon The daughter of the vine?

This borrowed life, the Loved One To Hafiz did commit,
When once her face I look on, I will to her resign.