Sufi Poem (With Notes)

Yesterday, half inebriated, I passed by the quarters where the wine-sellers dwell,
To seek out the daughter of an infidel, who is a vendor of wine.
At the end of the street, a damsel, with a fairy's cheek, advanced before me.
Who, pagan-like, wore her tresses dishevelled over her shoulder like the sacerdotal thread.
I said, "O thou, to the arch of whose eyebrows the new moon is a shame!
What quarter is this, and where is thy place of abode?"

"Cast," she replied, "thy rosary on the ground, and lay the thread of paganism thy shoulder upon;
Cast stones at the glass of piety; and from an overflowing goblet quaff the wine.
After that draw near me, that I may whisper one word in thy ear;
For thou wilt accomplish the journey, if thou harken to my words."

Abandoning my heart altogether, and in ecstasy rapt, I followed her,
Till I came to a place where, alike, reason and religion forsook me.
At a distance, I beheld a Company all inebriated and beside themselves,
Who came all frenzied, and baiting with ardour from wine of love;
Without lutes, cymbals, or viols; yet all full of mirth and melody -
Without wine, or goblet, or flask; yet all drinking unceasingly.

When the thread of restraint slipped away from my hand,
I desired to ask her one question, but she said unto me, "Silence."
This is no square temple whose gates thou canst precipitately attain;
This is no mosque which thou canst reach with tumult, but without knowledge.
This is the banquet-house of infidels, and all within are intoxicated;
All, from eternity's dawn to the day of doom, in astonishment lost!
Depart, then, from the cloisters and toward the tavern bend thy steps.
Cast away the cloak of the Dervish, and don thou the libertine's robe."

I obeyed: and if thou desire with me the same hue and colour to acquire,
Imitate me, and both this and the next world sell for a drop of pure wine.

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Notes

All is not as it first seems, this is Sufi poetry and codified. Words take on different meanings known to initiates, some phrases are opposite in meaning to what they appear to be. The following is an interpretation of some of the words and concepts:

Wine = Devotion.
Sleep = Meditation upon Divine Perfection.
Perfume = Hope of the Divine Afflatus (poetic inspiration).
Zephyrs (the gentle western breeze) = The gift of Godly Grace.
Kisses = Transports of Devotion and Piety.

Inverted meanings:

Idolaters, free thinkers, revellers = Those whose faith is of the purest description.
The Idol they adore = The Creator Himself.
The tavern = The place of prayer.
The wine drunk therein = The Holy Beverage of Love.
The keeper of the tavern = The Hierophant or spiritual teacher.
Beauty = The perfection of God.
Love-locks or tresses = The infinitude of His glory.
Down on the cheeks = The multitudinous Spirits which serve Him.
Inebriation and dalliance = The obstruction of the Soul which shows contempt of mundane affairs.

Now have a go at re-reading "The Song of Songs" and "The Song of Solomon", you will most definitely see them in a new light.