Sol 5.6

  1. I raised for them a landmark from luminous remembrance,

    and lodged them in a prize from the most profitable treasure.

  2. I made myself a servant of a path

    by which the people of God were enraptured on earth and in heaven.

  3. Oh, what men of love, while the cup brims!

    Come, drink; this song has risen melodiously.

  4. For you I pressed the pure essence of God’s wine;

    die drunk upon it—for such drunkenness is no sin.

  5. The people of uprightness before us were enraptured

    by it, and grew intoxicated among creation, wandering in love.

  6. You see them drunk: mystical union unfolds their understanding,

    while the light of distinction folds it away in seas of blindness.

  7. I filled my wine jar for you with clarified wine,

    and plucked my strings, making the speechless speak.

  8. I sang among drinkers—they were the messengers, all of them.

    Advance to the Sovereign’s gate, boldly taking the lead.

  9. Who among you is like me? This wine is my wine,

    and all the prophets are my drinking companions.

  10. Before me, Abraham the Friend and Moses were enraptured by it,

    then Jesus and the Companion of the Qur’an.

  11. This is my state, and this is my spiritual station:

    so recognize me, and deny my gnosis.

  12. By the light of Your face, O Light of the heavens,

    kindle the lamps of my gnosis within my niche.

  13. Fill my heart with Your love, and draw my last breath

    from amid the seas of my illusions and heedlessness.

  14. Here is the fire, and here the sacred valley;

    so remove both sandals, and put on humility.

  15. And you—find guidance or a firebrand.

    Do not pass on, for this night has grown dark.

  16. God’s paths are before my eyes, and the secre—

    —ts of His Names are my seas and my ships.

  17. What has kept me from God except

    the evil of my commanding self and the defect of my certainty?

  18. Lord, help! Most of it is darknesses;

    within them I incurred the bargain of one defrauded.

  19. You are the Light of lights, the light of my certainty

    through my life in this world, with a manifest light.

Sol 5.6