O regret! that life should be passed in pure loss! How
lawless all our eating and how defiled our bodies! I
have the blame, O God! of not having done what Thou
hast commanded. What will come to me for having done
what Thou hast not commanded?
Fret not thyself on account of the inconstancy of
this world; seek wine and draw near to thy caressing
mistress, for, thou seest that he whom his mother brought
forth to-day to-morrow disappears from the earth—to-morrow
returns to annihilation.
I can renounce all else, but wine never; for I have the
means of making amends for all else, but of wine, never.
O God! could one like me become a Musulman and renounce
old wine? Never.
We are all lovers, all drunkards, all adorers of wine.
We are all united in the tavern, having banished far
from us all that is good, all that is evil, all reflection
and revery. Oh! expect not intelligence or reason of us,
for we are all overcome with wine.
It is we who have confidence in the divine goodness,
who have shaken off the ideas of obedience and sin; for
where Thy benevolence exists, O God, he who has done
nothing is equal to him who has done something.