From Iran With Love - Newsweek and The Daily Beast My love's for pretty faces, For heart-bewitching hair; I'm crazy for good wine, A languorous, drunk stare ... In love there's no escaping The burning of desire; I stand here like a candle - Don't scare me with your fire. I am a man from heaven, But on this path I see My love of youth and beauty Have made a slave of me. If Fate will help me, I Will take myself elsewhere - My bed will be swept clean By some sweet houri's hair. Shiraz is like a mine Of ruby lips, a store Of loveliness ... and I'm A jeweler who's dirt-poor. I've seen so many drunk Eyes in this town, I think I'm drunk, although I swear I've had no wine to drink. You asked me to explain Eternity for you - Well certainly, when I Have downed a drink or two. Hafez, my nature's like A hopeful bride, but I Lack mirrors to array Myself - that's why I sigh. How long will you be like A cypress tree, And lean your lovely head Away from me? Sorrow is all you've ever Brought to me; I will not ask how long I am to be The knocker on your door You do not see, The iron ring you pass Obliviously. My pillow's made of absence - While you are free To taste another's love, Forgetting me. If I could follow your Curls" scent I'd see A way to let their night Envelop me; Since you have left me to This misery, Tears, and a heart on fire Are all of me. I don't deserve you, but I long to see The sunlight of your face Shine here, for me. Although you've shown that you Don't care for me, My soul still wishes you Prosperity. Your face's absence leaves mine waxy-white, like a candle; How long will my tears drip, blearing my sight, like a candle? You sleep, and on your pillow I lie broken, self-consumed, Awake and weeping till the morning light, like a candle. Jahan Khatun I'm off to stroll through the bazaar - and there I'll see what can be flushed out from its lair; I'll lure a rent-boy home here, or a whore; One of the two - either will do - I don't care. Obayd-e Zakani Reprinted by arrangement with Mage Publishers from Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz. Copyright 2013 by Dick Davis.