The Price of Wine
Love’s fire, for a lifetime, burned my heart and soul
until the Beloved taught me the way of the lover.
Love’s jealousy gave me no chance to cry out;
it sewed my lips to keep me from speaking.
Like a moth, out of passion I circled Him so much
that He burned like the candle, kindling me for every assembly.
He stored me for years in the heart of time
so that in this age I could amplify the whisperings of Love.
I am a slave of the master of the holy fire;
from myself He bought me.
Then sold me for the price of the tavern’s wine.
Nurbakhsh, with the breath of the Beloved,
drunkenly said,
“Love’s fire, for a lifetime,
burned my heart and soul.”
Read at the funeral of Nur Ali Shah, Dr Javad Nurbakhsh
