Sol 5.6

  1. We drank wine in remembrance of the Beloved,

    And through it were drunk before the vine was created.

  2. The full moon is its cup, and it is a sun passed round

    By a crescent; how many stars appear when it is mixed!

  3. Were it not for its fragrance, I would not have found its tavern;

    Were it not for its radiance, imagination could not conceive it.

  4. Time has left nothing of it but a last remnant,

    As though its concealment within the breasts of minds were a secret.

  5. If it is mentioned among a people, their folk awake

    Intoxicated, with neither shame nor sin upon them.

  6. From within the innermost parts of the wine jars it rose,

    Though in truth nothing of it remains but a name.

  7. If one day it crosses a person's mind,

    Joys take up residence there, and sorrow departs.

  8. If the drinking companions merely saw the seal upon its vessel,

    That seal alone, without the wine, would make them drunk.

  9. If they sprinkled some of it upon the soil of a dead person's grave,

    The spirit would return to him, and the body revive.

  10. If they laid beneath the shade of its vineyard wall

    A sick man nearing death, the illness would leave him.

  11. If they brought a cripple near its tavern, he would walk,

    And the mute would speak from remembering its taste.

  12. If breaths of its perfume spread through the East,

    One congested in the West would regain his sense of smell.

  13. If the palm of one who touched its cup were stained with it,

    He would not lose his way at night, with a star in his hand.

  14. If it were secretly revealed to one born blind, he would become

    Sighted; and from its strainer the deaf would hear.

  15. If a caravan made for the soil of its land,

    A snake-bitten rider among them would suffer no harm from the venom.

  16. If the healer inscribed the letters of its name upon

    The brow of a man struck by madness, the inscription would cure him.

  17. If its name were written above the army's banner,

    That writing would intoxicate everyone beneath the standard.

  18. It refines the drinking companions' character, so through it

    One who lacks resolve is guided to the path of determination.

  19. The hand of one who never knew generosity becomes generous,

    And one without forbearance grows forbearing when angered.

  20. If the dullest of the company attained a kiss of its stopper,

    That kiss would impart to him the meaning of its noble qualities.

  21. They say to me, “Describe it, for in describing it

    You are experienced.” Yes, I possess knowledge of its qualities:

  22. Purity—but no water; subtlety—but no air;

    Light—but no fire; spirit—but no body.

  23. The account of it preceded all created beings

    In eternity, when there was neither shape nor form.

  24. Through it things arose there for a wisdom;

    Through them it veiled itself from everyone without understanding.

  25. My spirit became enamored of it until the two were mingled in

    Union, though no body penetrated another body.

  26. Thus there was wine without vine, while Adam is a father to me,

    And vine without wine, while its mother is a mother to me.

  27. The subtlety of the vessels is, in truth, dependent

    Upon the subtlety of the meanings, and through it meanings grow.

  28. Distinctions have arisen, though the whole is one:

    Our spirits are wine, and our bodies are vines.

  29. Before it there was no “before,” nor after it any “after”;

    The priority assigned to dimensions is necessarily its own.

  30. The age of endless duration before our father was its vintage,

    And our father's era came after it, while it remained motherless.

  31. Its beauties guide its praisers in describing it,

    So both their prose and poetry about it become beautiful.

  32. One who does not know it is enraptured when it is mentioned,

    Like one yearning for Nuʿm whenever Nuʿm is named.

  33. They said, “You drank what is sinful.” No—rather,

    I drank that whose abandonment, to me, is the sin.

  34. Joy to the people of the monastery—how often they were drunk through it,

    Though they drank none of it; they merely aspired to it.

  35. From it I possess an intoxication preceding my creation,

    Remaining with me forever, even when the bone decays.

  36. Take it undiluted—or mix it, if you wish—

    For your turning from the Beloved's injustice is itself injustice.

  37. Here it is: take it in the tavern, and behold it through him,

    To the melody of songs, for with them it is a treasure.

  38. Never has it dwelt in one place together with care;

    Likewise, sorrow does not dwell beside melody.

  39. In one intoxication from it, though a lifetime only an hour,

    You would see Time as an obedient slave, with command belonging to you.

  40. There is no life in this world for one who lives sober,

    And whoever does not die drunk through it has missed true wisdom.

  41. Let whoever has wasted his life weep for himself,

    For in it he has neither portion nor share.

gpt-5.6-sol