For more about the mystic and poet Khwaja Shamsuddin Muhammed Hafiz of Shiraz, see this post. ‘Sabaa’ is the breeze from the east at dawn, to which lovers are said to confide their secrets. The ‘bulbul’ is a bird similar to the nightingale – of ordinary appearance but with a very melodious song heard at night or at dawn, and said to be madly in love with the rose.

Spring and all its flowers
     now joyously break their vow of silence.
It is time for celebration, not for lying low;
You too – weed out those roots of sadness from your heart.

The Sabaa wind arrives;
     and in deep resonance, the flower
     passionately rips open its garments,
     thrusting itself from itself.

The Way of Truth, learn from the clarity of water,
Learn freedom from the spreading grass.

Pay close attention to the artistry of the Sabaa wind,
that wafts in pollen from afar,
And ripples the beautiful tresses
     of the fields of hyacinth flowers.

From the privacy of the harem, the virgin bud slips out,
     revealing herself under the morning star,
branding your heart and your faith
     with beauty.

And frenzied bulbul flies madly out of the House of Sadness
     to unite with the flowers;
its love-crazed cry like a thousand-trumpet blast.

Hafez says, and the experienced old ones concur:

All you really need
     is to tell those Stories
     of the Fair Ones and the Goblet of Wine.

Translation Homayun Taba & Marguerite Theophil