Remembering the belovèd, wine we drink

Which drunk had made us ere the vine’s creation…..

A sun it is; the full moon is its cup;

A crescent hands it round; how many stars

Shine forth from it the moment it be mixed!

But for its fragrance ne’er had I been guided

Unto its tavern; but for its resplendence

Imagining could no image make of it.

Time its mere gasp hath left; hidden it is.

Like secrets pent in the intelligence,

Yet if it be remembered…..

 

Describe it, well thou knowest how it is,’

They bid me. Yea, its qualities I know:

Not water and not air nor fire nor earth,

But purity for water, and for air

Subtlety, light for fire, spirit for earth—

Excellencies that guide to extol its good

All who would tell of it, and excellent

Their prose in praise of it

The Wine-Song (al-Khamriyyah)

of ‘Umar Ibn al-Fârid