My love has sent no letter

I am heart-sick, because…

My love has sent no letter for
a long time now…I´ve heard
no salutations from him, no
inquiries, not one word…

I´ve written him a hundred times,
But that hard’riding King
Has sent no emissary back,
no  message not a thing

I´m wild with waiting, crazy, but
he´s sent no envoy here…
no strutting partridge has turned up,
no graceful, skittish deer.

He knows my heart must now be like
A fluttering bird, but he
has yet to send one sinuous line
to lure and capture me.

Damn him, that sweet’lipped serving boy
knows very well that I
need wine now but he purs me none,
although my glass is dry.

How much I boasted of his favours
the kindnesses we´d share
and now i have no idea at all
of how he is, or where.

But this is no surprise, Hafez,
calm yourself and behave
a king can´t be expected
to write letters to a slave.

from Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz
translated by Dick Davis

Dick Davis is probably my favourite English-language translator of Hafez at the moment. Do you like?

Then listen to it while you read it again:

mjc