1. I have amused myself with naught but what would aggrieve my conscience,
And conversed with none save those whose sighs give pleasure.

2. Can a man conceal his secret while in his breast
There is both a flaming and an exciting desire?

3. O thou that slayest desire, how fierce thou art
To the soul of him who is alone with it and changes!

4. The soul inclines towards it while exceedingly refractory,
And the heart quakes because of it and yet is full of longing.

5. I cast forth my spear against it and sheathed my swords
And choked my charger and yet the object is abundant.

6. And in the morn I found myself powerless
After I had soared freely and had a voice that roared.

7. So listen, O horsemen, to the appeal of one asking protection —
Is there no protector among you that will grant me immunity?

8. The night was long upon me till I was wearied of it
And I have not had intimacy with it long enough to be familiar.

9. O Allah, assist the youth the nursling, how sleek he is!
And hail to the days that have passed in which he is brisk!

10. When life is as the goings of shadows which spread over us
And the necklace of fidelity is a pendant.

11. And when we and a band of true brothers are in the midst of pleasures
Upon a principle with which we are not found faulting.

12. The goblet goes round amongst us amidst pastimes
In which wantonness is charming and the wine is a talebearer,

13. So our glances amid souls are messages
And our blossoms between goblets are messengers,

14. We have made the wings of our night and our day as one
And we have flown along with the pleasures wherever they fly.

15. And we said to our cupbearer, "Pass it round, for the rest
Of the life of the young man after his youth is short."

16. So it travelled lit by a brilliant, blazing flame
Which it has with sagacious men instead of wicks.

17. When we have drunk it, we stay in our places,
And the earth with its wideness goes round because of us.

18. And how many a night have I passed shortening its darkness till
At the coming of morn there remained in it only a little,

19. Engaging my heart with it and giving pleasure to my eye
And making my hearing enjoy it while the sides are pure!

20. I treated it with the action of the noble towards his family
And neighbours even though the treacherous were many.

21. So naught diverted us save the moaning of wild pigeons
Which have in the extremities of the branches a moaning.

22. Answering others that in the curves have
After yearning still a cooing.

23. Gentle creatures that know not the distress of livelihood
Nor the turns of time and how it revolves.

24. Down is for them a pillow and quilts
Of feathers in which there is advantage and plenty.

25. As though the bandlets on their wings and what covers them
Are amulets that have not been untied for them.

26. Wanderers from a marsh different from others,
Made happy by a shade poured out plentifully over them.

27. When the sun courts them, they flap as though
There were upon their flat surfaces satin and silk.

28. So when I saw morn lift up its cheek
And there did not remain any warp of darkness,

29. I went out trailing my skirts bewilderedly, for only
The youth is bewildered if he gives up and yet is able.

30. And I have a quality that refuses worldly things and a resolution
That repels the onslaught of the army when it is turbulent.

31. When I travel, the earth that we are above
Is a purpose for my charger and the fortresses are circuits,

32. So it is no wonder if an abode does not confine me
For eagles of the air have no lairs.

33. An eager soul that its feet do not cleanse
The winds in the length of distance and the early starts,

34. It is wont not to curb its rein from earnestness
Save when its purpose is completed.

35. It has from behind the unseen an ear hearing
And an eye seeing what an awake person does not see.

36. So I have been true to what the noble conjectured as intuition
Concerning my affair, and the like of me is worthy of fidelity.

37. And I have become one envied for his glory as though I am
Over every soul in the world a prince.

38. When I arrive, injustice desists from its injury
And if I speak hearts are choked in bosoms.

39. I have seized the reins of words and a wisdom
That has a star proud of splendor giving light.

40. And if I had been in the age of speech now passed away
Jarwal and Al-Akhṭal would have been eclipsed by my merit.

41. And if I had come upon the composers
In verses thy father would not have said,

42. "The refuge of our two houses is Abuka who is jealous."
And it did me no harm that I was late with regard to them

43. While my merit amongst mankind is renowned.
So he who comes first may sometimes fall behind