Wine and Kissing

Although there is no mention of kissing, it is not a stretch of the imagination that Hafiz’s recommendation to hoard life’s subtleties might encompass the art of kissing along with the good wine.
Elisabet

By Hafiz

Now that I have raised the glass of pure wine to my lips,
The nightingale starts to sing!

Go to the librarian and ask for the book of this bird’s songs, and
Then go out into the desert. Do you really need college to read this book?

Break all your ties with people who profess to teach, and learn from the
Pure Bird. From Pole the news of those sitting in quiet solitude
is spreading.

On the front page of the newspaper, the alcoholic Chancellor of the University
Said, “Wine is illegal. It’s even worse than living off charity.”

It’s not important whether we drink Gallo or Mouton Cadet, drink up!
And be happy, for whatever our Winebringer brings is the essence of grace.

The stories of the greed and fantasies of all the so-called “wise ones”
Remind me of the mat-weavers who tell tourists that each strand is a
yarn of gold.

Hafiz says: The town’s forger of false coins is also president of the city bank.
So keep quiet, and hoard life’s subtleties. A good wine is kept for drinking,
never sold.

By Martial

The fragrance of balsam extracted from aromatic trees;
the ripe odor yielded by the teeming saffron;
the perfume of fruits mellowing in their winter season;
or of silken robes of the empress from her Palatine wardrobes;
of amber warmed by the hand of a maiden;
of a jar of dark Falernian wine, broken and scented from a distance;
of a garden that attracts Sicilian bees;
of the alabaster jars of Cosmus, and the altars of the gods;
of the chaplet just fallen from the brow of the luxurious;
– but why should I mention all these things singly?
not one of them is enough by itself;
mix all together, and you have the perfume of the morning kisses of my favorite.
Do you want to know her name?
I will only tell you of the kisses.
You swear to be secret.
You want to know to much, Sabinus.