FOUR POETS

Browning:
There was nothing to fortify life’s effervescent wine:
I took some aqua vitae from Khizar and added it.

Byron:
Why should one be obliged to Khizar for his aqua’s loan?
I poured a little of my heart’s blood into the wine~cup.

Ghalib:
To make the wine still bitterer and my chest still more sore,
I melted the glass itself and added it to my wine.

Rumi:
How can dilutions be as good as the real stuff itself?
I pressed wine out of grapes direct and filled my cup with it.