Be drunk from it (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))

20091225-DSC_0026, originally uploaded by gservo.

by Umar Ibn al-Farid
(1181 - 1235) Timeline

English version by
Th. Emil Homerin

Original Language
Arabic


13th Century

Be drunk from it,
if only for the life of an hour,
and you will see time a willing slave
under your command.

For there is no life in this world
for one who lives here sober;
who does not die drunk on it,
prudence has passed him by.

So let him weep for himself,
one who wasted his life
never having won a share
or measure of this wine.