He saw a learned scholar walking by.
"Bring him in and give him
some of this fine wine."

Servants rushed out and brought the man
to the king's table, but he was not
receptive.  "I had rather drink poison!
I have never tasted wine and ne>I have never tasted wine and never will!
Take it away from me!"

He kept on with these loud refusals,
disturbing the atmosphere of the feast.

This is how it sometimes is
at God's table.

Someone who has heard about ecstatic love,
but never tasted it, disrupts the banquet.

If there were a secret passage
from his ear to his throat, everything
in him would change.  Initiation would occur.

As it is, he's all fire and no light, 
all husk and no kernel. 

The king gave orders. "Cupbearer, 
do what you must!" 

This is how your invisible guide acts, 
the chess champion across from you 
that always wins. He cuffed the scholar's head and said, 
"Taste!" 
And, "Again!" 
The cup was drained 
and the intellectual started singing 
and telling ridiculous jokes. 

He joined the garden, snapping his fingers 
and swaying. Soon, of course 
he had to pee. 

He went out, and there, near the latrine, 
was a beautiful woman, one of the king's harem. 

His mouth hung open. He wanted her! 
Right then, he wanted her! 
And she was not unwilling. 
They fell to, on the ground. 
You've seen a baker rolling dough. 
He kneads it gently at first, 
then more roughly. 

Then he bunches it, 
and rolls it all the way out again, 
thin. Now he adds water, 
and mixes it well. 

Now salt, 
and a little more salt. 

Now he shapes it delicately 
to its final shape 
and slides it into the oven, 
which is already hot. 

You remember breadmaking! 
This is how your desire 
tangles with a desired one. 
And it's not just a metaphor 
for a man and a woman making love. 

Warriors in battle do this too. 
A great mutual embrace is always happening 
between the eternal and what dies 
between essence and accident. 

The sport has different rules 
in every case, but it's basically 
the same, and remember: 

the way you make love is the way 
God will be with you. 

So these two were lost in their sexual trance. 
They did not care anymore about feasting 
or wine. Their eyes were closed like 
perfectly matching calligraphy lines. 

The king went looking for the scholar, 
and when he saw them there coupled, commented, 

"Wellhem there coupled, commented, 

"Well, as it is said, 'A good king 
must serve his subjects from his own table!'" 

There is joy, a winelike freedom 
that dissolves the mind and restores 
the spirit, and there is manly fortitude 
like the king's, a reasonableness 
that accepts the bewildered lostness. 

But meditate now on steadfastness 
and clarity, and let those be the wings 
that lift and soar through the celestial spheres.