We today from strangers cannot divide
So drunk that we don’t know where we reside.
In this love, we departed our very mind
Madness and desperation we cannot hide.
In this trap they said there is a hidden bait
So trapped, we are the bait they implied.
Spare us the moral of this story
Stories and fantasies our hearts deride.
Your brush combed the fibers of my heart,
Ecstatic, brush from the hair cannot divide.
Flame of love unseen by the blind at heart
To the flame, the moth must glide with much pride.
Give us wine and ask us not how many cups
In this love cup and wine are both denied.
On the path bears and lions, vicious cougars,
Courage our guide, on the path forward we ride.
Shams-e Tabriz this flowing wine supplied
Once again cup and keg ain’t identified.

Ó Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
June 18, 1999