He said: know yourself, distinguish yourself from the stranger.

This is the opening of a Persian poem, likely from the medieval period, written in the ghazal form. The speaker addresses a beloved and describes a world of intoxication and revelry in taverns, invoking wine, music, and ecstatic states. The verses speak of leaving home in drunkenness, of a world where everyone appears mad or intoxicated, of beauty perceived in every glance, and of devotion to the beloved and the tavern as a spiritual refuge. The language and imagery suggest themes of mystical intoxication, love, and the dissolution of the self into a transcendent state.