Umar ibn al-Farid (d. 1235)

In remembrance of the Beloved we drank a wine by which we were intoxicated before the grape was created. The full moon is its cup and it itself is a sun around which the crescent moon revolves; how many a star appears when it is mixed!

Were it not for its fragrance, I would not have been led to the wine house, and were it not for its radiance, I could never have imagined it. Time has left nothing but a glimpse of it, as if its secret were hidden in the hearts of the wise. They say to me:

“Describe it, for you know well its true nature.” – Indeed, of its qualities I am well aware: Clarity, not water; subtlety, not air; light, not fire; and soul, but not body. Its being preceded the coming into existence of all things – eternal; no form exists there and no pattern. Over himself should he weep whose life is wasted, without having had part or share in it.