Rumi: "We have a huge barrel of beer, but no cups."

Beer has inspired lots of poetry over the years...we want to be part of that tradition! When we open this summer, Sketchbook plans to invite our customers to create their own Beer Epics on our Magnetic Poetry board.  Imagine tasting our latest recipe and playing with words at the same time! And knowing your instant classic might be posted on our blog.

In the mean time, we'll be using this space to occasionally post brilliant beer poems. Of course, Sketchbook Brewing Company does not formally endorse any behaviors described here...

The Tavern, by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273)

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
And I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I’ll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I’m like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
But who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn’t come here of my own accord, and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

This poetry. I never know what I’m going to say.
I don’t plan it.
When I’m outside the saying of it, I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

We have a huge barrel of beer, but no cups.
That’s fine with us. Every morning
We glow and in the evening we glow again.

They say there’s no future for us. They’re right.
Which is fine with us.