Themes :
Wine

Sacred poetry traditions from all over the world compare ecstatic union with drunkenness. The wine described is real, but not the wine most people think of. In states of deep spiritual communion, a subtle flowing substance is sensed upon the palette. Its a taste of ethereal sweetness can be compared with wine or honey. There is a sensation of drinking and a warming of the heart. The attention blissfully turns inward, the eyelids grow pleasantly heavy and the gaze may become unfocused. A giddy smile naturally blooms for no apparent reason. When the ecstasy comes on strongly, the body can tremble, sometimes the consciousness even leaves the body.

With these experiences, it not only makes sense for mystics to use the language of wine, observers sometimes mistake this state for actual drunkenness.

Poems with the theme of Wine

  Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said A pious one with a hundred beads on your rosary
  Abil-Kheir, Abu-Said Detached You are, even from your being
  AE (Russell, George William) The Unknown God
  Akha What could be the Other when First is naught?
  Andal Fair mothers, my sweet ambrosia (from Nacciyar Tirumoli)
  Ansari, Khwaja Abdullah Empty Me of Everything But Your Love
  Attar, Farid ud-Din You need patience for this quest
  Aulia, Hazrat Nizamuddin In Allah's garden you gather roses,
  Badakhshani, Binavi Clear Wine
  Bahu, Sultan So what if love's idol is hidden? One's heart will never be far away
  Basava The pot is a God
  ben Kallir, Eleazar Epithalamium
  Beni Raga Ramkali
  Bhawani, Rupa I dashed down into the nether regions and brought the vital breath up
  Bitkoff, Stewart Desert Tears
  Bitkoff, Stewart The Religions
  Booth, Philip First Lesson
  Booth, Philip How to See a Deer
  Bulleh Shah Bulleh! to me, I am not known
  Bulleh Shah He Who is Stricken by Love
  Bulleh Shah Your love has made me dance all over
  Carpenter, Edward The Central Calm
  Chiyo-ni, Fukuda From the mind
  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Kubla Khan
  Dickinson, Emily I taste a liquor never brewed
  Dickinson, Emily Between the form of Life and Life
  Efendi, Seyh Ibrahim The Sufi Way
  Eldar Edda (Anonymous) Odin's Shaman Song (from Eldar Edda)
  Emre, Yunus I haven't come here to settle down
  Emre, Yunus One Who Is Real Is Humble
  Emre, Yunus The drink sent down from Truth
  Emre, Yunus The Truth fills the world
  Galib, Seyh Love is a lamp of God, I am its moth
  Gascoigne, Dame Catherine One thing alone I crave / Unum sit mihi totum
  Gibran, Kahlil Giving
  Gibran, Kahlil Pain
  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von I hurry off to drink eternal light (from Faust)
  Granger, Ivan M. Adi Atman 9: you you
  Gyatso, Chone Lama Lodro A Dance of Unwavering Devotion
  ha Nagid, Samuel Answer Me
  ha Nagid, Samuel Red in aspect, sweet in taste
  Hafiz A New World
  Hafiz Beauty Radiated in Eternity
  Hafiz Cupbearer, it is morning, fill my cup with wine
  Hafiz Hair disheveled, smiling lips, sweating and tipsy
  Hafiz It Is Time to Wake Up!
  Hafiz O Saghi, pass around that cup of wine, then bring it to me
  Hafiz Sun Rays
  Hafiz The Essence of Grace
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) A Still Cup
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Why Aren't We Screaming Drunks?
  Hallaj, Mansur al- Your spirit is mingled with mine
  Hamadani, Ayn al-Qozat As Long as I Live
  Han-Ch'ing, Kuan Idle Wandering
  Han-Ch'ing, Kuan this autumn scene's worth words paint
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Contemplation
  Hayati, Bibi How can I see the splendor of the moon
  Hayati, Bibi Is it the night of power
  Hildegard von Bingen O Euchari in leta via / Sequence for Saint Eucharius
  Hirshfield, Jane A Hand
  Hirshfield, Jane Rebus
  Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [7] Release your hold on earth, water, fire, wind (from The Shodoka)
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar Be drunk from it (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar I sought her from myself (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar In memory of the beloved (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar They say to me: "Do describe it (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
  ibn Gabirol, Solomon Come to me at dawn, my beloved, and go with me
  ibn Gabirol, Solomon Lord of the World
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad O Cup-bearer! Give me again that wine of love for Thee (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad To the Saqi (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Iraqi, Fakhruddin In the street of wineshops, when
  Iraqi, Fakhruddin Love the phoenix cannot be trapped
  Iraqi, Fakhruddin O saki, fill a cup
  Islam, Nazrul Let's Meet Hereafter!
  Izzet, Asik Ali The Path of the Beautiful
  Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) As air carries light poured out by the rising sun
  Jami, Ahmad Even from earthly love thy face avert not
  Janabai There is nothing empty of divine
  Jayadeva My heart values his vulgar ways (from The Gitagovinda)
  Jayadeva Raga Maru
  Jnaneshwar The Union of Shiva and Shakti (from Amritanubhav)
  John of the Cross Song of the Soul That Delights in Knowing God by Faith
  John of the Cross The Fountain
  Kabir Many hoped
  Kabir The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright
  Kalidas (Edwards, Lawrence) What mind can possibly approach you
  Khayyam, Omar [2] Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
  Khayyam, Omar [5] Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose
  Khayyam, Omar [20] Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
  Khayyam, Omar [21] Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best
  Khayyam, Omar [30] What, without asking, hither hurried whence?
  Khayyam, Omar [39] How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit
  Khayyam, Omar [40] You know, my Friends, how long since in my House
  Khayyam, Omar [42 - later edition] Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit
  Khayyam, Omar [43] The Grape that can with Logic absolute
  Khayyam, Omar [47] And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press
  Khayyam, Omar [55] The Vine has struck a fiber: which about
  Khayyam, Omar [67] Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide
  Khayyam, Omar [71] And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel
  Khusrow Dehlawi, Amir Just a Glance
  Lalla I wore myself out, looking for myself
  Lalla What is worship? Who are this man
  Lawrence, D. H. Glory
  Lee, Li-Young From Blossoms
  Levertov, Denise The Fountain
  Li Bai Alone and Drinking Under the Moon
  Li Bai If High Heaven had no love for wine
  Li Bai Self-Abandonment
  Li Bai To Tu Fu from Shantang
  Llull, Ramon January (from The Book of the Lover and Beloved)
  Lu Tung Pin The Hundred Character Tablet (Bai Zi Bei)
  Machado, Antonio Siesta
  Maghribi, Muhammad Shirin Invisible Caravans
  Maghribi, Muhammad Shirin O End of Every Beginning
  Maghsoud, Moulana Shah Find a pure wine and the party of the drunkard
  Maghsoud, Moulana Shah Go to the Winery and exchange your robe for a drink of wine
  Maghsoud, Moulana Shah The light of the beloved rises from the horizon of my heart
  Maharshi, Ramana Disrobe, show Your beauty (from The Marital Garland of Letters)
  Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
  McCombs, Chris Come Have a Drink
  McCombs, Chris Roos O Shab
  McCombs, Chris The Tavern
  Mechthild of Magdeburg In pride I so easily lost Thee
  Mechthild of Magdeburg Yea! I shall drink from Thee
  Meher Baba How Wonderful is the murderous mercy of God!
  Merton, Thomas A Practical Program for Monks
  Merton, Thomas A Psalm
  Milarepa Response to a Logician
  Milarepa The Song of Food and Dwelling
  Milarepa The Song on Reaching the Mountain Peak
  Milarepa Upon this earth, the land of the Victorious Ones
  Milosz, Czeslaw A Song on the End of the World
  Milosz, Czeslaw On Pilgrimage
  Mirabai I am pale with longing for my beloved
  Mirabai The Music
  Misri, Dhun-Nun al- The haunt of the hearts of the gnostics
  Muktananda, Swami Mukteshwari
  Namdev Laughing and playing, I came to Your Temple, O Lord
  Nasimi, Imadeddin At love's most sumptuous feast was I with love made drunk
  Nasimi, Imadeddin I take the Merciful One's shape, the Merciful I am
  Nawaz, Gharib The Second Jesus
  Nematollah Vali, Shah I beheld my essence
  Nematollah Vali, Shah The Sea Is Our Essence
  Neruda, Pablo Poetry
  Neruda, Pablo The Poet's Obligation
  Niffari (an-Niffari, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan) Stand at the throne (from The Standing Of the Presence Chamber and the Letter)
  O'Brian, Ellen Grace In the Heart is a Well
  O'Brian, Ellen Grace Sandhya
  Plunkett, Joseph Mary The Splendour of God
  Qushayri The round of a cup
  Qushayri Your waking through my words to you
  Rahman Baba Soul Train
  Ramakrishna Is there anyone in the universe
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) I drink no ordinary wine
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Kulakundalini, Goddess Full of Brahman, Tara
  Ramsay, Jay Infinity and Beyond
  Rasakhan Nectar Radha
  Reninger, Elizabeth Dawn
  Rilke, Rainer Maria Gong
  Rilke, Rainer Maria The Second Elegy (from The Duino Elegies)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (8) Barefoot (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin At night we fall into each other with such grace
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin I drink streamwater and the air
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin Now comes the final merging
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin That moon which the sky never saw
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin The beauty of the heart
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin The glow of the light of daybreak is in your emerald vault, the goblet of the blood of twilight is your blood-measuring bowl
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin The grapes of my body can only become wine
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin Today I'm out wandering, turning my skull
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin What can I do, Muslims? I do not know myself
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin You only need smell the wine
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363)
  Ryokan The Autumn Moon
  Sanai, Hakim Melt yourself down in this search
  Sanai, Hakim When he admits you to his presence
  Saraha The Royal Song of Saraha (Dohakosa)
  Sarmad He is happy on account of my humble self
  Schneider, Pat The Patience of Ordinary Things
  Schuon, Frithjof Heart's Wisdom
  Shabistari, Mahmud The Tavern Haunters
  Shabistari, Mahmud The Wine of Rapture (from The Secret Rose Garden)
  Shankara The Shattering of Illusion (Moha Mudgaram from The Crest Jewel of Discrimination)
  Sinan, Ummi The Rose
  Singh, Darshan How should I tell of the feeling that reigns
  Singh, Darshan Wonder of wonders!
  Snyder, Gary Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout
  Stein, Edith I Will Remain With You...
  T'ao Ch'ien After Liu Ch'ai-Sang's Poem
  T'ao Ch'ien Autumn chrysanthemums have beautiful color
  Thayumanavar Prayer to Being - Let Us Contemplate
  Tilopa Song of the Mahamudra (Tilopa's Song to Naropa)
  Traherne, Thomas Love
  Trungpa, Chogyam Purifying and Invoking the Four Directions
  Tukaram Can water drink itself?
  Underhill, Evelyn Dynamic Love
  Vivekananda Song of the Sanyasin
  Walters, Dorothy The Winemakers
  Walters, Dorothy Whoever Went In
  Yeats, William Butler A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety
  Yeats, William Butler The Blessed
  Yogananda, Paramahansa Samadhi
  Yun-k'an Tzu done with the world
Wine