Saadi: Ghazal 14, An Aubade (From Persian)

A lovertine Aubade (or so I would think of it) from 13th century Persia.

Ghazal 14: An Aubade
By Saadi
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Click to hear me recite the original Persian

They're beating that unwelcome drum 
                   of dawn more hastily tonight.
(Or has the rooftop bird, by some 
                   mistake, not gotten morning right?)
Was it one moment or all night
                   sacked from our lives against our will? 
- With us together lip to lip,
                   and much desire left to fulfill!
I now turn smiling, now turn shy,
                   now glad at heart, and now heartbroken
And still I fail to get across
                   a message that can't just be spoken.
If your foot deigns to touch my neck
                   you honor me by standing near.
But for my low-laid head I've no
                   welcome to offer steps so dear.
And now that luck has finally made
                   peace with us to a fare-thee-well,
The spiteful mob of trash who talked 
                   trash about us can go to hell!
Saadi's a marked man now. Tell men,
                   mystics and masses, near and far,
I'm an idolator! But, then,
                   how goddesslike my idols are! 

The Original:

إمشب سبكتر مى زنند اين طبلِ بى هنگام را

يا وقتِ بى دارى غلط بودست مرغِ بام را

يك لحظه بود اين يا شبى كز عمرِ ما تاراج شد

ما همچنان لب بر لبى نابرگرفته كام را

هم تازەرويم هم خجل هم شادمان هم تنگدل

كز عهده بى رون آمدن نتوانم اين پيغام را

گر پاي بر فرقم نهى تشريفِ قربت مى دهى

جز سر نمى دانم نهاد از عذرِ اين اقدام را.

چون بختِ نيك انجام را با ما بكلى صلح شد

بگذار تا جان مى دهد بدگوى بد فرجام را

سعدى علم شد در جهان، صوفى و عامى گو بدان

ما بتپرستى مى كنيم آنگاه چنين اصنام را