WINE CELLAR

Open those eyes given to you
and fuse with universe
if you open only the mind’s eyes
you will never see love in full

Conference of birds by Attar
Translated by Sholeh Wolpe

…keeps centuries of labor
in Grape-land where many have
passed through as conquerors
as those who only wanted to marry
and as those who wanted
to drink the best wine only

in there through millennia
microorganisms were multiplying
and none of us dare to count them
by number non by their age

when I opened my eyes and fused
my glance with the luminous star
undressing her devoré
I could see her torso and
the fog unfurling from her body
dispersing across the universe
a singularity in its vastness
spell bounded our vision
I could see none but us

There was a cellar- up there
pouring that wine from turquoise
amphora- some said it was ambrosia
that Illyrian sages extracted from
honey and served in Delphi Oracle
some said it was only a water
that dropped us mercy and in it
the particles of Soul and fractals
of the life that has yet to come

Fahredin Shehu