I've Said It Before and I'll Say It Again....by Hafiz

I've said it before
and I'll say it again:

It's not my fault
that with a broken heart,
I've gone this way.

In front of a mirror
they have put me like a parrot,
And behind the mirror
the Teacher tells me what to say.

Whether I am perceived
as a thorn or a rose,
It's The Gardener
who has fed
and nourished me day to day.

O friends,
don't blame me
for this broken heart;
Inside me there is a great jewel
and it's to the Jeweler's shop I go.

Even though, to pious,
drinking wine is a sin,
Don't judge me;
I use it as a bleach to wash
the color of hypocrisy away.

All that laughing and weeping of lovers
must be coming from some other place;
Here, all night I sing with my wine-cup
and then moan for You all day.

If someone were to ask Hafiz,
"Why do you spend all your time
sitting in the Winehouse door?,"

to this man I would say,
"From there, standing,
I can see both
the Path and the Way."

~ Hafiz
(I've Said It Before and I'll Say It Again)
From: Drunk on the Wind of the Beloved
Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe
Art by Heather King