339.
Some said to me: Drink less of wine. What reason have you for not giving it up? The reason that I give is first the face of my friend [God] and secondly the morning cup. Be just and tell me, Is it possible to give a more luminous reason?
340.
If I possessed in the heavens the power which God exercises there, I would destroy the people of this world, and others I would make in my own way, so that man, freed [from the bonds of superstition], could attain here below the desires of his heart.
341.
My poor heart, full of grief and folly, has not been able to free itself from drunkenness where passion for my well-beloved has plunged it. Oh! the day when the wine of this love was distributed, my portion was, without doubt, drawn from the blood of my heart!
342.
To drink wine and seek beautiful faces is wiser than to practise hypocrisy and apparent devotion. It is evident that if there exist a Hell for lovers and drinkers, no one would wish for Paradise.
343.
Scorn the words of coquettish women, but accept limpid wine from the hand of those whose mien is irreproachable.
You know that all those who have made their appearance in this world are partly of one kind and partly of the other, and it is not given to any to see a single one that may come back.
344.
It is not necessary to soften and disgrace a joyous heart by sorrow, to break under the stones of torment our moments of delight. As no one is able to tell what is to be, what is necessary is some wine, a beloved mistress [the Divinity], and repose according to our desires.
345.
Yes, it is beautiful to enjoy good fame; it is shameful to complain of the injustice of heaven; it is better to become drunk with the juice of the grape, than to be puffed up with false devotion.
346.
O God! be pitiful to my poor imprisoned heart; show pity to my bosom, susceptible to so much sorrow; pardon my feet which lead me to the tavern; pardon my hand which seizes the cup!
347.
O God! deliver me from calculating, more or less, upon the things of this world; make me preoccupied with Thee, and free me from myself. While I have my sound reason good and bad are known to me; render me drunk and free me from this knowledge of good and bad.
348.
This Wheel of Heaven runs after my death and thine, my friend it conspires against my soul and thine.
Come, seat thyself upon the turf, for, indeed, small time remains to us before new turf shall germinate from my dust and from thine.
349.
When we shall have lost my soul and thine, they will place bricks upon thy tomb and mine. Then, in order to cover other tombs with bricks, they will throw my dust and thine into the kiln of the brick-maker.
350.
In this castle which by its splendor rivals the heavens, this castle to which sovereigns succeeded with delight, we have seen a turtledove seated on the ruined battlements crying: Kou, kou, kou, kou [Where? Where?].
351.
What advantage has our coming into this world produced?
What advantage will result from our departure?
What remains to us of the heap of hopes that we have conceived. Where is the smoke of all the pure men who under the celestial fire have been consumed and become dust?
352.
O Thou whose lips secrete the water of life, permit not those of the cup to come and kiss them! [Oh, if Thou shouldst permit it], may I lose the name of man if I am not soaked in the blood of the flask, for what is it, this cup, to dare to touch its lips to Thine?
353.
I am such as Thy power has made me. I have lived a hundred years filled with Thy benevolence and benefits.
I would like still a hundred years to commit sin and to see if the sum of my faults outweighed Thy pity.
354.
Now take thy cup, carry away the gourd, O Charm of my Heart! and go, explore the plains, the borders of the brooks, for indeed idols, like to the moon in the light of their beautiful countenances, have a hundred times been transformed into cups, a hundred times have they become gourds.
355.
It is we who buy old wine and new wine, and it is we who sell the world for two grains of barley. Know where you will go after death? Bring me some wine and go where you will.
356.
Who is the man who here below has not committed sin; can you say? Had he not committed it, could he have lived, can you tell? If, because I do evil, you punish me for evil, what then is the difference between you and me, can you say?
357.
Oh! where is that one whose lips are of rubies, where that precious stone of Bedekhchan? Where is that wine full of perfume which gives repose to the soul? They say that the religion of Islam prohibits it; drink, friend, and have no fear, for where do you see Islam?