You are drunk and i'm intoxicated...by Rumi

You are drunk
and i'm intoxicated
no one is around
showing us the way home

Again and again
i told you
drink less
a cup or two

I know in this city
no one is sober
one is worse than the other
one is frenzied and
the other gone mad

Come on my friend
step into the tavern of ruins
taste the sweetness of life
in the company of another friend

Here you'll see
at every corner
someone intoxicated
and the cup-bearer
makes her rounds

I went out of my house
a drunkard came to me
someone whose glance
uncovered a hundred
houses in paradise


rocking and rolling
he was a sail
with no anchor but
he was the envy of all those sober ones
remaining on the shore

Where are you from i asked
he smiled in mockery and said
one half from the east
one half from the west
one half made of water and earth
one half made of heart and soul
one half staying at the shores and
one half nesting in a pearl


I begged
take me as your friend
i am your next of kin
he said i recognize no kin
among strangers

I left my belongings and
entered this tavern
i only have a chest
full of words
but can't utter
a single one

~ Rumi
Ghazal 2309
Translated by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Fountain of Fire
Cal-Earth, September 1994