If a loaf of wheaten bread be forthcoming,
A gourd of wine, and a thigh-bone of mutton,
And then, if thou and I be sitting in the wilderness,
That were a joy not within the power of any Sultan.
Lit.
If chance supplied a loaf of white bread,
Two casks of wine and a leg of mutton,
In the corner of a garden with a tulip-cheeked girl
There’d be enjoyment no Sultan could outdo.
Lit.
My rule of life is to drink and be merry,
To be free from belief and unbelief is my religion:
I asked the Bride of Destiny her bride-price,
“Your joyous heart,’ she said.
Lit.
My law it is in pleasure’s paths to stray,
My creed to shun the theologic fray;
I wedded Luck, and offered her a dower,
She said, “I want none, so thy heart be gay”
Edward H. Whinfield
A book, a woman, and a flask of wine:
The three make heaven for me; it may be thine
Is some sour place of singing cold and bare –
But then, I never said thy heaven was mine.
Le Gallienne