The dregs of wine are the bitterness that the lover accepts from the hand of the Beloved—without complaint. There are many ways to interpret calamity and misfortune in this world.
Some see them as punishment—for humanity having strayed from the path of righteousness. Others see them as mere coincidence, in a chaotic world without purpose, where hardship and misfortune befall those who run out of luck. Still others see them as another face of the Divine—not punishment, not accident, but manifestation.
The Sufis, absorbed in the love of God, accept whatever comes as coming from the Beloved. And so, the bitterness of the world—the dregs—tastes as sweet to them as pure wine.
Hafez says:
How sweetly the master of the winehouse spoke to the dreg-drinkers intimate with him:
’Never reveal the state of the scorched heart to unripe souls.’
پیر میخانه چه خوش گفت به دُردیکش خویش
که مگو حال دل سوخته با خامی چند
