مست شدم ای ساقی
Mast Shudam O Saaqi
“I Became Drunk, O Wine Pourer”
Lyrics
Lyrics updated · July 2026English Translation
I am drunk, O cupbearer — I am drunk, O cupbearer I am drunk from wine — make this night beautiful, O cupbearer Rise up and set the gathering in uproar tonight
O cupbearer, you made me drunk with one sip of wine Pour another — for you have turned me to a kebab Pour the purple wine in the cup So together we drain them slowly, slowly
The tax-collector came unaware and struck at wine and vessel He threw a stone at our glass and struck the whole world
Transliteration
Mast shodam saqi, mast shodam saqi Mastam az may bekon ay saqi zeba imshab Qad bar afrazo bekon walwala barpaa imshab
Saqia mast ze yak jorha sharabam kardi Rez yak jorhaye degar ke kababam kardi Sharabe arghawani rez dar jam Ke ba-ham sarkashem aram aram
Mohtaseb bekhabar amad ba may o meena zad Sang bar sheeshaye ma o hamage donya zad Bego ba yar kare moshkele man Peyala sazad az aab o gele man
Mohtaseb ma hama ra dast o sar o paa shekanad Ay khosh aan sar ke bajaye meena shekanad Kharidare mayam har ja ke hastam Ke man ta zenda astam may meparastam
متن اصلی
مست شدم ساقی، مست شدم ساقی مستم از می بکن ای ساقی زيبا امشب قد بر افراز و بکن ولوله بر پا امشب
ساقيا مست ز يک جرعه شرابم کردی ريز يک جرعه ی ديگر که کبابم کردی شراب ارغوانی ريز در جام که با هم سر کشيم آرام آرام
محتسب بيخبر آمد به می و مينا زد سنگ بر شیشه ای ما و همگی دنيا زد بگو با يار کار مشکل من پياله سازد از آب و گل من
محتسب ما همه را دست و سر و پا شکند ای خوش آن سر که بجای سر مينا شکند خريدار ميم هر جا که هستم که من تا زنده استم می پرستم
I am drunk, O cupbearer — the mahfil (gathering) set in uproar by one sip of wine. The saaqi, the cupbearer, is as much a figure of spiritual mediation as domestic service in the ghazal tradition.
About This Recording
The saaqi — the cupbearer — is one of the most persistent figures in Persian lyric poetry, from Hafiz through Bedil and into the twentieth century. The saaqi does not simply pour wine; in the Sufi reading, the saaqi mediates between the seeker and the substance that temporarily dissolves the self. The instruction to 'rise up and set the gathering in uproar tonight' is both a social command and a spiritual one.
The gathering (mahfil) is the social unit of Persian musical tradition — an assembly where music, wine, and poetry existed together. The mahfil is not a concert audience but a participatory circle: the poets and musicians and listeners sharing a space where ordinary social boundaries softened. Zahir's career was built partly on recordings that could simulate this gathering for a radio audience.
'The tax-collector came unaware and struck at wine and vessel' — this intrusion of the outside world into the gathering registers both literally (taxes on wine, restrictions on music) and metaphorically (the world's practical demands interrupting the space of intoxicated community). 'He threw a stone at our glass and struck the whole world' — the violence against the cup is damage to everyone.
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