ved and fragrant drink, thou drivest care away,
The object thou of that man's wish who studies night and day.
Thou soothest him, thou giv'st him health, and God doth favor those
Who walk straight on in wisdom's way, nor seek their own repose.
Fragrant as musk thy berry is, yet black as ink in sooth!
And he who sips thy fragrant cup can only know the truth.
Insensate they who, tasting not, yet vilify its use;
For when they thirst and seek its help, God will the gift refuse.
Oh, coffee is our wealth! for see, where'er on earth it grows,
Men live whose aims are noble, true virtues who disclose.

COFFEE COMPANIONSHIP

_Translation from the Arabic_

Come and enjoy the company of coffee in the places of its
habitation; for the Divine Goodness envelops those who partake of
its feast.

There the elegance of the rugs, the sweetness of life, the society
of the guests, all give a picture of the abode of the blest.

It is a wine which no sorrow could resist when the cup-bearer
presents thee with the cup which contains it.

It is not long since Aden saw thy birth. If thou doubtest this, see
the freshness of youth shining on the faces of thy children.

Grief is not found within its habitations. Trouble yields humbly to
its power.

It is the beverage of the children of God, it is the source of
health.

It is the stream in which we wash away our sorrows. It is the fire
which consumes our griefs.

Whoever has once known the chafing-dish which prepares this
beverage, will feel only aversion for wine and liquor from casks.

Delicious beverage, its color is the seal of its purity.

Reason pronounces favorably on the lawfulness of it.

Drink of it confidently, and give not ear to the speech of the
foolish, who condemn it without reason.

During the period of the second religious persecution of coffee in the
latter part of the sixteenth century, other Arabian poets sang the
praises of coffee. The learned Fakr-Eddin-Aboubeckr ben Abid Iesi wrote
a book entitled _The Triumph of Coffee_, and the poet-sheikh
Sherif-Eddin-Omar-ben-Faredh sang of it in harmonious verse, wherein,
discoursing of his mistress, he could find no more flattering comparison
than coffee. He exclaims, "She has made me drink, in long draughts, the
fever, or, rather, the coffee of love!"

The numerous contributions by early travelers to the li