1. Leave the tavern be, it has no place in you,
And neither has Zainab enchanted me, nor Ka'b.

2. Rather, it was Babylon that captivated me,
For she is, like me, accustomed to nights of wakefulness.

3. The water has dried up within her, for she is
A fantasy that stirs between bones.

4. When one tastes her, she ensnares him,
Rendering him senseless, unable to be called cultured.

5. On a starless night, I walked with some youths
Whose hearts competed as they strode toward the tavern.

6. Toward a wine-seller's house, and below it
Were lofty mansions with paths leading to them.

7. Startled by our late-night approach after slumber,
With none present save the arrogant watcher,

8. He tossed apprehensively, fearing it was a raid,
And his anxiety returned after his rest.

9. When we called his name, terror gripped him,
And he knew the travelers would profit from him.

10. He hurried to the door, eager to welcome
The visitors ‒ strange is his joy in them!

11. He bared his teeth and fell prostrate before us,
Thinking himself, in this, perspicacious.

12. "Welcome," he said. "Your arrival gladdens
A company, and with me you have ample lodging."

13. He brought a lantern and lit it,
And all that we desired was near for him.

14. We said, "Give us rest. Sell to us, if selling
Is your trade, for darkness is vanishing from its dominion."

15. He presented to us a pale honey-colored one,
Full of gaiety in her cup and clothing.

16. When he poured her out to the boon companions,
The scent of delicate fragrant air was manifest to her.

17. She came swaying with a blossoming figure.
The onlookers desire her as she sways gently.

18. She is a dune on which there grows a bending bough.
If she walks, the stone cliffs appear to sway with her.

19. The beauty Mahmud approached, sparkling,
Drawn to her cup in which no defect is evident.

20. The revelers inhale the rose's fragrance from his cheeks ‒
Nothing in it but pleasant redolence.

21. He continued serving us with brimming cups,
One disappears as another after it returns.

22. He sang for us in a trilling, modulated voice.
Lightning flashed westerly, and a stranger wept.

23. Whoever among us was a lover, his tears flowed,
And after joy, his laments returned.

24. Among the joyous, the weeping lovers,
As the garments of darkness revealed hidden things...

25. The Pleiades have set, and the Thurayya
With the dawn, begins to rise.