Page:The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 08.djvu/89



I know what is, and what is not, I know

The lore of things above, and things below;

But all this lore will cheerfully renounce,

If one a higher grade than drink can show.

Though I drink wine, I am no libertine,

Nor am I grasping, save of cups of wine;

I scruple to adore myself, like you;

For this cause to wine-worship I incline.

To confidants like you I dare to say

What mankind really are---molded of clay,

Affliction's clay, and kneaded in distress,

They taste the world awhile, then pass away.

We make the wine-jar's lip our place of prayer,

And drink in lessons of true manhood there,

And pass our lives in taverns, if perchance

The time misspent in mosques we may repair.

Man is the whole creation's summary,

The precious apple of great wisdom's eye;

The circle of existence is a ring,

Whereof the signet is humanity.

With fancies, as with wine, our heads we turn,

Aspire to heaven, and earth's low trammels spurn;

But, when we drop this fleshly clog, 'tis seen

From dust we came, and back to dust return.