Ode 75

HAPPY returns of this good day to thee,

Saki! and, now that the long fast doth cease,

Do not forget what thou didst promise me,

Whenas the wintry rigours of reform

Should slacken and the world again grow warm,

And the sour censor let us drink in peace.

Yea! Daughter of the Vine, forget not how

With loyal hearts we battled might and main

To win thy freedom; ah! forget not now,

In the rejuvenation of the feast,

The friends that fought, and HAFIZ not the least,

Faithful and firm, to make thee young again.

Still the old bloom is on thee—the same blithe ways!

And in thy side the same warm heart doth beat;

Thank God! the wind of those inclement days

In all thy garden killed no single rose;

As to and fro the tavern my cypress goes,

How good again it is to hear her feet.

HAFIZ, the cup is like to Noah his ark,

And Time the deluge is where all must drown;

Quick! ere the torrent tears thy roof-tree down—

O hasten, HAFIZ, hasten to embark.