WHY I DRINK WITH THE SAQI

I am 'drunk' and lost somewhere,
Where? I wish I knew...
When I drink what the saqi gives,
I am sobre, sombre and aware.

Some of my friends know that I drink,
Good gold brimming in the cup,
No one has asked me why I drink,
Nobody has cared to even think...

But the saqi with her houri-like eyes,
Knows it all and like a God-sent saint,
She spares no effort to soothe my sighs,
With drinks, affection, sharing my cries.

When the heart is cleft apart more than once,
When angst and worries befog the mind,
When there's no shoulder to lean, unwind,
Then it is drinks or the saqi's fond response...

Which make me ready to live a day more,
Repeating the routine and tasks -- encore;
Sour and soul-renting is this world for me,
Drinks help me cope with its hypocrisy.

Author's Notes/Comments: 

Saqi is a term used for a person who quenches the thirsty ones with water or drinks. It is an Arabic/Persian/Urdu word. Poets of the East like Omar Khayyam, Ghalib, Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Ahmed Faraz romanticized the saqi as taverns in Persia, India and some parts of the Middle East had taverns where beautiful veiled women were/are saqis. It also refers to God and prophets, saints and mystics in poems by mystic poets like Rumi, Firdausi among several others while some lovelorn poets use it as a metaphor for their beloved woman.

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