Umar Ibn al-Farid: Be drunk from it (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))

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

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

English version by
Th. Emil Homerin

Original Language
Arabic

Muslim / Sufi

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.

-- from Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verses, Saintly Life, Translated by Th. Emil Homerin

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Themes

Death

Smile

Trembling

Wine

Recommended Books

	From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint: Ibn Al-Farid, His Verse, and His Shrine, by Th. Emil Homerin
	Sufi Poems: A Mediaeval Anthology, Translated by Martin Lings
	Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verses, Saintly Life, Translated by Th. Emil Homerin
	The Wine of Love and Life: Ibn Al-Farid's Al-Khamriyah and Al-Qaysari's Quest for Meaning, by Dawud Ibn Mahmud Qaysari

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Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World