“Hurry now to your friend’s house and his wine,

as drinks go round like the sun
to his right. The wineglass purifies
the wine’s ruddiness–even rubies
are put to shame by its coral glow.
It beholds and keeps secret the splendor of its vintage
until it can no longer conceal it.”
[clipped]
–Judah Halevi, “Wine Songs #2,” in Poems from the Diwan tr. Gabriel Levin