Page:The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 08.djvu/83



My love shone forth, and I was overcome,

My heart was speaking, but my tongue was dumb;

Beside the water-brooks I died of thirst.

Was ever known so strange a martyrdom?

Give me my cup in hand, and sing a glee

In concert with the bulbul's symphony;

Wine would not gurgle as it leaves the flask,

If drinking mute were right for thee and me!

The "Truth " will not be shown to lofty thought,

Nor yet with lavished gold may it be bought;

But, if you yield your life for fifty years,

From words to "states " you may perchance be brought.

I solved all problems, down from Saturn's wreath

Unto this lowly sphere of earth beneath,

And leapt out free from bonds of fraud and lies,

Yea, every knot was loosed, save that of death!

Peace! the eternal "Has been" and "To be"

Pass man's experience, and man's theory;

In joyful seasons naught can vie with wine,

To all these riddles wine supplies the key!

Allah, our Lord, is merciful, though just;

Sinner! despair not, but His mercy trust!

For though to-day you perish in your sins,

To-morrow He'll absolve your crumbling dust.