1. Pour me a cup, o boon companion, and bring it
And quench my thirst in the morn’s first light

2. The birdsong in the flowering thickets wearies my hearing
And the singing in the grove’s green bowers

3. What is there sweeter to the soul than a flowing cup
On the meadow’s carpet spread aright?

4. This is a day whose edges are perfumed
With the musky breaths of the morning’s first breaths

5. In the name of the scented blossoms, the wafting fragrances
The tender branch, the delicate bough that sways

6. A stage for eyes that stretches far
Where the wind’s breath flows twixt night and day

7. So heed the summons of morn, my friend
And seize the moment before life slips away

8. And wander with me to the garden grove
Of the swaying palms and the fruitful trees

9. For it is the meadow of desires, and the refuge of passions
The place of wishes, the path of life

10. Souls are drawn there, called by yearning
From the anguish of longing and days of sorrow

11. It awakens joy and gladness, and wipes away
From the heart of the sorrowful all complaints

12. With girls like stars in their beauty
And maidens like dolls, steps light and eyes bright

13. Sipping from cups flowing with wine
That glows like the sun in its raiment of glass

14. In jugs like birds twittering in fright
Lest the raiders cry should bring doom and blight

15. Singing girls tend the cups like mothers
Nursing their babes in the hush of night

16. You’ll see none but youths drunk with music
Or infatuated by a dark-eyed maiden’s sight

17. And singers whose tones when they start to croon
Make the earth itself spin before your eyes

18. They captivate heart and soul with their melodies
That seep through the walls of the houses at night

19. Voices unleashed that echo and swirl
Among the ecstatic crowd in delight

20. Songs that silence all speech and make one forget
The anguished beloved in remembrance contrite

21. By God this is the joy of life, not to be compared
To vain hopes in this world of woe and plight