II36

If your religion needs the blood of Lovers,
Then just say so, and I'll shed mine.

Your hair is as dark as the night,
Your face as bright as morning.

No one can escape from the curls of the Beloved's hair,
No one can escape from the dart of the Beloved's eye.

I shed a river of tears because of your fickleness,
Its a river no sailor would dare swim.

When your life-giving lips met mine,
They proved true in giving me life, and Baraka too.

I had to ask many times before your lips would kiss mine,
I had to give up everything to earn this bliss.

All the Lovers pray for the joy of you,
And to keep living for as long as there are days and
nights.

Sensibility and piety, Hafiz never had those,
But no one should expect those from a mad Lover.

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