why should i not be after the affairs of my own lands?
why should i not be the dust of the friend’s own alley?
and when i cannot endure travel and stranger,
i shall go to my own city and be my own king.
i shall be a confidant of the curtain of union-
i shall be one of my own, exalted lord’s slaves.
since life’s affairs are not all evident, it is best
that on the day of death i be before my beloved.
of exhausting work and sleep dealt by the hand of fate,
if i have a complaint- i shall be my own secret’s keeper.
lover and rendi have always been my preoccupation.
again i shall strive, and with my own work be busy!
may the grace before time began be your guide, hafez-
and if not, beyond the end of time i shall be ashamed!
