I cannot think of many wine-producing regions that would put poetry on their wine labels, let alone poems by an Arab poet. In  Mallorca they do, at least one Bodega does, Vins Can Majoral in Algaïda, on their Butibalausí Rosat (Rosé) wine.

Here is the poem, Els Vasos (Goblets), by Idris Ibn-al-Yaman al-Sabini al-Yabisi (Eivissa, 10th/11th century):

Eren feixucs els vasos quan a nosaltres arribaran,
emperò en omplir-se de vi pur s’alleugeriren
i a punt de volar amb el seu contingut d’igual manera
que els cossos s’alleugeren amb els esperits.

The goblets were heavy when they were brought to us,
but when filled with pure wine they became so light
that they almost flew up high with it
just as the bodies are lifted up high by the spirits.

I’m telling you this because tomorrow night, June 14th, the XIV Festival de Poesia de la Mediterrània 2012 will hold its Nit de la poesia at the Teatro Principal in Palma, at 21h00. Admission is free, no wine will be served.

La Crisis did not stop the festival from being staged once more this year, but as a consequence of moneys being tight, fewer poets were invited this year and only one from far away. Here is a list of the artists participating in tomorrow’s event, with their respective idioms: Miquel Bezares (Mallorca, Catalan), Teresa Colom (Andorra, Catalan), Pedro Enríquez (Granada, Castellano), Nahid Kabiri (Iran, Farsi), Laia Martínez López (Mallorca, Catalan), Miquel Àngel Llauger (Mallorca, Catalan), Víctor Obiols (Barcelona, Catalan), Joan Perelló (Mallorca, Catalan), Andreu Subirats (Mallorca, Catalan) and Tiago Torres da Silva (Portugal, Portuguese).

The festival is organised by the Consell de Mallorca together with the Universidad de las Illes Balears under the hosting of the festival’s able director, Biel Mesquida, a poet of renown himself.

This year’s Festival de Poesia de la Mediterrània will end on Friday, June 22nd, with a concert given by Anna Roig i l’Ombre de Ton Chien, also at the Teatre Prinipal.

The photo was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of riowang.blogspot.com.es.

Thank you very much, and also for the poem’s translation from the Catalan.