1. If Qays did not leave any desire
Unfulfilled, I have fulfilled what I desired.

2. And many a soul found a life of ease
Had she not slept in the midst of danger.

3. The matters of your world a line traced by fate
And love of it is the first line written.

4. We fast a day, then comes breakfast,
No fasting we hope for after breakfast.

5. Share your bounty, however little you were given,
And count your neighbour, though poor, a partner.

6. My life with honour, my death not in submission,
Quenched by rain after watering with rain.

7. Your abode diffuses musk though empty
Like a perfume-seller after the fragrance is gone.

8. As though the meadow, when its flowers blossomed,
Quenched by rain after watering with rain.

9. Her melodies feign no artifice,
For that is not of wonders or miracles.

10. I make no loud cries for the ravens of youth to return,
Nor call the raven perched on the head to take flight.

11. My heart bears the sorrow, giving respite to my body,
My head I protect and my back is not bent.

12. Your prince, son of glory, claims no lineage,
But he is a son of dust, of him we were created.

13. A name is but a word brought to you by speakers,
It came not near to the meaning nor took flight.

14. Abu Nuwas, though born in Ahwaz,
How did he become attributed to Qatar?