The Convivial Book

Can the Koran from Eternity be?

’Tis worth not a thought!
Can the Koran a creation, then, be?

Of that, I know nought!
Yet that the book of all books it must be,

I believe, as a Mussulman ought.
That from Eternity wine, though, must be,

I ever have thought;
That ’twas ordain’d, ere the Angels, to be,

As a truth may be taught.
Drinkers, however these matters may be,

Gaze on God’s face, fearing nought.

1815. ——- YE’VE often, for our drunkenness,

Blamed us in ev’ry way,
And, in abuse of drunkenness,

Enough can never say.
Men, overcome by drunkenness,

Are wont to lie till day;
And yet I find my drunkenness

All night-time make me stray;
For, oh! ’tis Love’s sweet drunkenness

That maketh me its prey,
Which night and day, and day and night,

My heart must needs obey,—
A heart that, in its drunkenness,

Pours forth full many a lay,
So that no trifling drunkenness

Can dare assert its sway.
Love, song, and wine’s sweet drunkenness,

By night-time and by day,—
How god-like is the drunkenness

That maketh me its prey!

1815. ——- X. MATHAL NAME.