English
Another Ghazal: On Love and Parting
If I do not die of grief on the day of farewell,
do not count me as a fair man in love.
Do not weep in pity over the one who has died;
weep instead for the living one, torn from those he loved.
O phantom of my beloved, though the beloved betrayed me and turned away,
between you and me there is a meeting time that will not be broken.
When the caravan driver sang and their departure came,
the enemy got what he hoped for and was satisfied.
They left with hearts harder than the mountains of Tihama;
so do not spare your tears, even if they undo you.
You who ask me about the one whose love has ruined me:
his beauties refuse to be counted or described.
What can be said, when his beauty has no equal?
If he had a match, he would have joined it.
They uncovered what was hidden behind their veils,
and left bare what the breasts conceal.
Can he be content with a single glance from the beloved,
this thirsty man who, even if he drank the whole lake, would not be satisfied?
I halted my mount in the land of parting
and wept until I soaked the very ground where I stood.
To them I bring my complaint and my pain, and back to them again;
they did me no justice, and I found no one to grant me justice.
Sa'di, be patient, though patience has no place
in love, except as something forced and false.