ایوسف گمگشته باز آید به کنعان غم مخور

  

Lost Jospeh (Hafez)

Your lost Joseph will return to Canaan, do not grieve

This house of sorrows will become a garden, do not grieve

Oh grieving heart, you will mend do not despair

This frenzied mind will return to calm, do not grieve

When the spring of life sets again in the meadows

A crown of flowers you will bear, singing bird, do not grieve

If these turning epochs do not move with our will today

The state of time is not constant, do not grieve3

Lose hope not, for awareness cannot perceive the concealed

Behind the curtains hidden scenes play, do not grieve

Oh heart, should a flood of destruction engulf the world

If Noah is at your helm, do not grieve

As you step through the desert in desire of Ka’aba

The thorns may reproach you, do not grieve

Home may be perilous and destination out of reach

But there are no paths without an end, do not grieve

Our state in separation from friends and with demands of foes

The divine who turns circumstance knows all, do not grieve

Hafez, in the corner of poverty and loneliness of dark nights

Until your words echo prayers and lessons of Quran, do not grieve.

 

 

Translated by Marzieh Ghiasi

June 2009