By Hafiz (c. 1320–89), published in the November/December 2012 issue of The American Poetry Review. Translated by Matthew Rohrer, who consulted earlier English versions rather than the Persian.

All I want to do
is get drunk with my wife

An endless glass of wine
both of us on the floor

So what if squares
look down on us?

Boring and misguided
are their miserable lives

When my wife is in the city
and I’m home
I want to cry

The moonlight
on the cypress tree
is a bitter light

No book has ever kissed me
like she does