1. When light overflowed from the celestial sphere of the wine bottle,
Joy overflowed in hearts as well.

2. Serenity appeared, souls calmed, gloom retreated,
Ease set in, and thousands were delighted.

3. Rejoice! For laughter has spread amongst the drinkers,
Neither reason nor temptation invited it.

4. Drink rose-cheeked wine with a starry chalice
Spinning around you constantly.

5. Until you say, “Is this blood or fermented juice?
And are these servers stars or heavenly maidens?”

6. You see the steed of night stumbling and saying,
“Do not be surprised, the horse of darkness stumbles.”

7. When the gloomy night departs and the brilliant dawn arrives,
The birds start chirping and the breeze blows gently.

8. Dew drips on the wine like tears of joy
Trickling down flushed cheeks after reconciliation.

9. Wake your drinking companion for the dawn libations,
And be not like those who only give a little and then stop.

10. Strength of spirit comes from wine alone,
So focus on it; nourishment for bodies is abundant.

11. Know that everything has its proper instrument,
And drinking early is one of wine’s tools.

12. With murmuring, it revives souls in a manner
That transforms whatever is in cups.

13. It loosens clasped belts and breasts’ laces,
Straightens bending waists as if drunk itself.

14. The wine bearer’s lantern glows for it
Like sparks in fiery embers.

15. Or like the bright full moon, her forehead
Seems split and her disheveled hair scattered.

16. In her cheeks are the rising spots for the two Nile rivers,
And in her breast a bed for the two ducks.

17. Lassitude took hold of her eyes and liveliness
Played in her softness as if she was a frisky doe.

18. As if they were two moons, each of them
Shedding light in the celestial sphere of beauty.

19. My heart is for God, yet passion moves it
To the maidens’ thin waists like lute strings.

20. It finds no rest or escape as if it were
A bird fluttering with clipped wings.

21. Why should I long for the gardens’ flowers
When the blossoms of the beloveds’ cheeks are open?

22. My friend, the maiden has invited you to her saliva,
And the chalice has turned white with her fermented juice.

23. The gray hair of old age said, “Long live she
Who has served you wine, O you blessed by heavenly maidens!”

24. So beware missing the opportunity of time
That gives and deprives. For fate is fickle.

25. Or let not apathy make you miss her,
Then the sin of her jealous Lover will be forgiven.

26. I have read in the bubbles a message
Whose meaning is that God is Forgiving.

27. And I wondered how one who dies of love’s wounds still lives,
While the soul is tempestuous and passions are raging.

28. Why does the wind ambush the breeze in her season
To reach her, yet block her when she shines?

29. And the despicable rival calls her despicable,
Yet when she is born, he calls her a fragrance.

30. It is far from one like you to abandon one like her
To the ignorant, when her beneficence is well-known.

31. By God, I shall not forsake the sweet union of mouths
To keep the rotating chalice company at the gathering.

32. Anton Alton says, understand that what I have said is the interpretation.
The star of Damascus is pure goodness.

33. Why change the essence of its overflowing virtue?
It turns to you drawing near and away like rain-bearing clouds.

34. He is the perfect, generous scholar who cannot be deceived,
Jealous in upholding his position.

35. He who has almost dripped with subtlety and gentleness
As if he were the Elixir itself.

36. Mysteries have bowed to his discernment.
All that is hidden to you is contained in his mind.

37. Affairs have yielded to his resolve.
If he decided a night should last, the dawn would not breathe.

38. If others pride themselves on being a refuge,
It is to him the helpless and refugees turn.

39. And when assemblies take pride in their men,
Their elite take pride in him in particular.

40. That breast, even if one preceded him,
Is grateful to God, protective.

41. The best of prophets is the last, and so
The honor of the living goes to the mule as he is the last.

42. So honor him, O people of knowledge, a banner
Whose nobility turns eyes away in awe.

43. Sweet of traits, his soft speech is a gift,
Delightful, though his might is bitter.

44. The House of Glory rose with him as did
Those he praised, the noble and the commoner.

45. O star of Damascus, its famed garden
Whose peer is rarely found and who is most blessed!

46. I have not found a steed nobler than your father,
In discernment of horses, only the wise are experts.

47. You have risen to his saying, “The sea whose abundance
Sustains the settled lands.”

48. And in the prime of your life you reached a rank
That the seasoned ocean did not attain in its old age.

49. So you have the joy in it and in the positions
Indicated by the rise of its celestial body.

50. And if I make a mistake about the celestial bodies by one,
The statement is corrected and good tidings commence.

51. I have seen that Lebanon who adores you
Yearn to you joyfully with outstretched hands.

52. May harmony constantly be your orbit,
And the orbits of others revolve around you.

53. And may you remain supported in vastness, successful
When light overflowed from the celestial sphere of the wine bottle.