Let someone tell the cupbearer that we are dying of thirst; if he cannot give wine, let him give a cup of poison instead—it does not matter.

In this couplet, the poet expresses the sheer peak of longing and desperation, where the thirst for connection becomes unbearable. The cupbearer (saqi) symbolizes the beloved or fate, and wine represents the intoxicating warmth of love and grace. The pain of being ignored is so agonizing that even a cup of poison feels welcome—anything to put an end to this relentless, unquenched misery.