To My Father - Yazid I

Must then my failings from the shaft

Of anger ne'er escape?

And dost thou storm because I've quaff'd

The water of the grape?

That I can thus from wine be driv'n

Thou surely ne'er canst think—

Another reason thou hast giv'n

Why I resolve to drink.

'Twas sweet the flowing cup to seize,

'Tis sweet thy rage to see;

And first I drink myself to please;

And next—to anger thee.

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Caliph Yazid I [Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan] (c. 646 - 683) Syria

Translated by Joseph Dacre Carlyle

Source: Specimens of Arabian poetry, from the earliest time to the extinction of the Khaliphat, with some account of the authors by Joseph Dacre Carlyle, Lunn, 1796.

Yazid I was not a good ruler, and was known for his profligacy and wit - as this poem attests!