SAMUEL HA-NAGID (Spain, 993 - 1056)

MY FRIEND, WE PASS OUR LIVES AS IF IN SLEEP

My friend, we pass our lives as if in sleep;
Our pleasures and our pains are merely dreams.
But stop your ears to all such things, and shut
Your eyes--may Heaven grant you strength!--
Don't speculate on hidden things; leave that
To God, the Hidden One, whose eye sees all.

But send the lass who plays the lute
To fill the cup with coral drink,
Put up in kegs in Adam's time,
Or else just after Noah's flood,
A pungent wine, like frankincense,
A glittering wine, like gold and gems,
Such wine as concubines and queens
Would bring King David long ago.

The day they poured that wine into the drum,
King David's singer Jerimoth would strum
And sing: "May such a wine as this be kept
Preserved and stored in sealed-up kegs and saved
For all who crave the water of the grape,
For every man who holds the cup with skill,
Who keeps the rule Ecclesiastes gave,
Revels, and fears the tortures of the grave."