Ode 174

TIME was your doorstep was my dwelling-place;

Mine eyes shone clear because of the bright dust

Raised by the daily passing of your feet;

My heart was pure with looking in your face;

Your soul's deep thought, that did my tongue repeat;

When Reason came with questions to the heart,

'T was in your wisdom that I put my trust;

Nor had I fear that we should ever part;

And thus in the dear neighbourhood of you,

Society as rose and lily sweet,

Pure as a garden of lilies HAFIZ grew.

Alas! for my security gone by!

Beloved, wherefore have you stolen away!

Of doctor and friend I ask the reason why,

And question many another learned lip,

But no one hath a healing word to say.

Last night I went, seeking companionship,

Unto the tavern, and remarked how stood

The wine-jar with its foot set in the clay,

And its slim body filled heart-high with blood!

In a like case with yonder jar am I.

Abou Ishac,* again, I thought upon,

So lately was he lord of Shiraz here;

But where to-day is Abou Ishac gone?

The ups and downs of this unstable sphere!

The city's laws his turquoise seals no more.

HAFIZ, 't was only yesterday we heard

That strutting partridge noise his vanished state;

Blind, like us all, he saw not, foolish bird,

Poised in the clouds the falcon of his fate—

Alas! for his deserted palace-door!