Ghazal 154: Play a tune to whose music one can heave a sigh

راهی بزن که آهی بر ساز آن توان زد
شعری بخوان که با او رطل گران توان زد

بر آستان جانان گر سر توان نهادن
گلبانگ سربلندی بر آسمان توان زد

قد خمیدهٔ ما سهلت نماید اما
بر چشم دشمنان تیر، از این کمان توان زد

در خانقه نگنجد اسرار عشقبازی
جام می مغانه هم با مغان توان زد

درویش را نباشد برگ سرای سلطان
ماییم و کهنه دلقی کآتش در آن توان زد

اهل نظر دو عالم در یک نظر ببازند
عشق است و داو اول بر نقد جان توان زد

گر دولت وصالت خواهد دری گشودن
سرها بدین تخیل بر آستان توان زد

عشق و شباب و رندی مجموعهٔ مراد است
چون جمع شد معانی گوی بیان توان زد

شد رهزن سلامت زلف تو وین عجب نیست
گر راهزن تو باشی صد کاروان توان زد

حافظ به حق قرآن کز شید و زرق بازآی
باشد که گوی عیشی در این جهان توان زد

Play a tune to whose music one can heave a sigh;
recite a verse with which one can drain a heavy cup.

If one can lay one's head on the beloved's threshold,
one can send the cry of high honour up to the sky.

Our bent stature may look slight to you, but
from this bow one can shoot arrows into the eyes of enemies.

The secrets of love's game do not fit inside the dervish lodge;
the cup of Magian wine can only be drunk with the Magians.

The dervish has not the means for the sultan's palace;
here are we, and an old cloak that one can set on fire.

People of insight stake both worlds on a single glance;
it is love, and on the first throw one can stake the coin of life.

If the fortune of union with you would open a door,
on this fancy one can beat heads against the threshold.

Love, youth and the life of a rend are the sum of desire;
when the meanings come together, one can strike the ball of speech.

Your tress has become the highwayman of safety, and no wonder;
if you are the highwayman, one can rob a hundred caravans.

Hafez, by the truth of the Quran, come back from fraud and hypocrisy;
perhaps one can strike the ball of pleasure in this world.

Interpretation of the fal

You are not as weak as you look: even from your bowed state, much can be done. On the heart's road one must be bold and stake everything. Now that love, strength and opportunity have come together, it is time to speak and act. Give up deceit and pretence, and you will come to real happiness.