From Hafiz’s Drunk On the Wine of the Beloved

“No Fear”

O Beloved, even against a thousand armies,

With You on my side I have no fear.

 

The Promise of union with You has kept me alive,

And fearing separation from You, many deaths I have died.

 

If the breeze should take away Your scent,

For each breeze that blows I’ll make a rip in my Sufi coat.

 

Do You think that I’ve been lying around sleeping all these years? Never!

Or that I’ve learned to be patient from all this separation and all this pain?

Lord, no!

 

To be cut wide open by Your hand is better than another’s cure.

Your poison is better than anything the pharmacist prescribes.

 

They say that death from Your sword gives everlasting life.

If this is true, then I’d be happy to die.

 

O Horseman, here are my hands – tie them with Your reins.

And here is my head – against another’s sword use it as Your shield.

 

Hafiz says: Who really knows You as You really are?

It’s like the blind telling the blind what it is they see.”