Classic Poem

The days of distance and the nights apart
Are at an end,
All the long lonely winter of the heart
Is at an end:
No more forever shall the autumn gloom,
No more forever shall December freeze,
For lo! the sweet swift-footed April breeze
Fills all the world with fragrance and with bloom —
O, my own love and friend,
Our grief is at an end!

Our grief is ended and our joys begun,
We have climbed the night — at last we reach the sun;
And the wide world from pole to pole is bright
With the effulgent face of our delight,
From shining end to end.

Deep in the scented shadow of your hair,
I bow my head and weep for very bliss,
So happy I can scarce believe me there,
Too happy even to kiss;

For, love, O most desired and lovely friend,
Through your great locks I see the rising sun,
The solitary night is at an end,
Our morning is begun.

What care I if, for love of your fair face,
To the wide winds my work and place I throw!
My work is just to love you, and the place
Just where you are the only place I know.

Ah! to the wine-shop swiftly let us come,
With happy harp and loud exultant drum,
And with a mighty voice the Saki call —
" Deep cups and many, many cups for all! "
What matter how much money we shall spend,
For, O most lovely and beloved friend,
To-day the grief of HAFIZ, the long grief,
In a wild blessedness beyond belief