1. أَدارَ الكأْس صافيةَ المُدامِ

    كحيلُ الطَّرْفِ ممشُوقُ القوامِ

    He passed around the cup of pure wine,

    kohl-dark of eye and slender of frame.

  2. وَقَد رَكَضَتْ بأقداح الحميّا

    خيولُ الصُّبْح في جنحِ الظَّلام

    And, with goblets of potent wine, there galloped

    the steeds of dawn in the wing of darkness.

  3. وأبصر غادةً من آل سام

    على الباقين من أولاد حام

    And behold a maiden of the house of Shem

    above the remaining sons of Ham.

  4. ومالت للغروب نجومُ أفق

    كما نثر الجمان من النظام

    And the horizon's stars inclined toward setting,

    like pearls scattered from their string.

  5. ونحنُ بروضة تَندى فتُبدي

    لنا شكران آثار الغمام

    While we were in a dew-moistened garden, revealing

    to us its gratitude for the traces of the clouds.

  6. وقد أمْلَتْ حمائمُها علينا

    من الأوراق آياتِ الغرام

    And its doves had dictated to us

    from among the leaves, verses of passion.

  7. أقمْنا بينَ أفناءِ الأغاني

    وما اخترنا المقام بلا مقام

    We stayed amid the precincts of song,

    and chose no lodging without a musical mode.

  8. تَلَذُّ لنا القِيان بها سماعاً

    إذا اتَّصَلَتْ بمنقطع الكلام

    There the singing-girls delighted our ears

    when they joined in where speech broke off.

  9. وما رقَصَتْ غصونُ البان إلاَّ

    لما سمعَته من لحن الحمام

    The bān-tree boughs danced only

    to the melody they heard from the doves.

  10. فمن طربٍ إلى طربٍ توالى

    ومن جامٍ سعى في إثر جام

    So rapture followed rapture,

    and one goblet hastened after another.

  11. رَضَعْنا من أفاويق الحميّا

    وقلْنا لا منعنا بالفطام

    We suckled at the fresh milkings of potent wine,

    and said, “May we never be denied it by weaning!”

  12. نَفُضُّ خِتامَها مِسْكاً ذكيًّا

    وكان الدَنُّ مسكيَّ الختام

    We broke its seal of sweet-scented musk,

    for the wine jar's seal was musk.

  13. تحلُّ بها المسرَّةُ حيث حَلَّتْ

    ودبَّت بالمفاصل والعظام

    Joy alights with it wherever it alights,

    and it courses through the joints and bones.

  14. عَصَيْنا من نَهى عنها عتوًّا

    وفزنا بالمعاصي والأثام

    We defiantly disobeyed whoever forbade it,

    and triumphed through transgressions and sins.

  15. وحرَّمنا الحلالَ على الندامى

    وما يغني الحلال عن الحرام

    We forbade the lawful to our drinking companions,

    for the lawful is no substitute for the forbidden.

  16. وكم يومٍ تَركنا الزِّقَّ فيه

    جريحاً من يد الندمان دامي

    On many a day we left the wineskin

    wounded and bleeding by a drinking companion's hand.

  17. وعُجْنا بالكؤوس إلى التصابي

    وما عُجْنا لأطلال رِمام

    With the cups we turned toward youthful folly,

    and did not turn toward crumbling ruins.

  18. وليلٍ يجمعُ الأحبابَ شملاً

    بمن نَهوى شديد الالتحام

    And many a night gathered loved ones together,

    in close embrace with those we love.

  19. وباتَتْ تُسْعِف اللَّذات فيه

    ببنتِ الكرم أبناءُ الكرام

    All night, pleasures were sustained there

    by sons of the noble, with the daughter of the vine.

  20. فمِنْ وَجهٍ تَقَرُّ به عُيوني

    ومن رشفٍ أبُلُّ به أُوامي

    From a face in which my eyes find joy,

    and a sip with which I quench my burning thirst,

  21. فيبعثُ بالسرور إلى فؤادي

    ويهدي بالشفاء إلى سقامي

    gladness is sent into my heart,

    and healing is brought to my sickness.

  22. وقد طاب الزمان فلا رقيب

    يكدر صَفْوَ عيشي بالملام

    Time has grown sweet, and no watcher remains

    to muddy the clarity of my life with blame.

  23. وما أهنا شموسَ الراح تترى

    وقد أخَذَتْ عن البدر التمام

    How delightful the suns of wine, coming in succession,

    having taken their fullness from the full moon.

  24. وغانيةٍ تجود إذا استُميحَتْ

    بطيب الوصل بعد الانصرام

    And many a beauty grants, when entreated,

    sweet reunion after separation.

  25. فما غَدَرَتْ لمشتاق بعهدٍ

    ولا خَفَرَتْ لصبِّ بالذمام

    She never broke a pledge to one who yearned,

    nor betrayed the trust of one love-stricken.

  26. تركتُ العاذلين بها ورائي

    وقدَّمتُ السرور بها أمامي

    I left behind me those who blamed me for her,

    and set the joy she brought before me.

  27. تعير بوجهها الأقمار معنىً

    إذا وافتك بارزة اللثام

    With her face she lends the moons their meaning,

    when she comes to you unveiled.

  28. كأنِّي قد أخَذتُ على الليالي

    عهود الأمن من ريب الحمام

    It is as though I had secured from the nights

    pledges of safety from the hazards of death.

  29. ومَن أضحى إلى سلمان يُعزى

    وخِدْمَتِه فمحمول السلام

    And whoever comes to be associated with Salman

    and his service—he is borne in safety.

  30. أصَبْتُ بنيله أمَلاً بعيداً

    وما طاشت بمرماها سهامي

    Through his bounty I attained a far-off hope,

    and my arrows did not stray from their mark.

  31. كأنِّي أستزيد ندى يديه

    بشكراني لأيديه الجسام

    As though I seek still more of his hands' bounty

    by my gratitude for his mighty favors.

  32. وكم نِعَمٍ له عندي وأيدٍ

    رغمتُ بهنَّ آنافَ اللئام

    How many blessings and favors of his I possess,

    with which I rubbed the noses of the base in dust.

  33. وصالَحْتُ الخطوبَ على مرادي

    وكنتُ عَهِدتُها لَدَّ الخصام

    I made peace with calamities on my own terms,

    though I had known them fierce in contention.

  34. وما انْفَصلتْ عُرى أملٍ وثيقٍ

    وفيه تَمسُّكي وبه اعتصامي

    The bonds of a firm hope have never come apart,

    for I cling to him and in him seek protection.

  35. مكان تمسكي بالعهد منه

    مكان الكف من ظبة الحسام

    My place in holding fast to his covenant

    is the hand's place in relation to the sword's edge.

  36. وسَيَّال اليدين من العطايا

    تسيل من العطاء لكل ظامي

    And his hands flow with gifts,

    streaming with bounty for all who thirst.

  37. إذا ما فاتني التقبيل منها

    فليس يفوتني نَوْءُ الغمام

    If kissing them should be denied me,

    the clouds' rain will never pass me by.

  38. تمام جماله خَلَقٌ رضيٌ

    وحَسْبُك منه كالبدر التمام

    His beauty's perfection is a pleasing character,

    and his perfection, like the full moon's, suffices you.

  39. وتلك خلائقٌ خَلُصَتْ فكانت

    نُضاراً لا تُدَنَّسُ بالرغام

    These are virtues refined to purity, becoming

    pure gold unsullied by dust.

  40. فتًى في الناجبين لقد أراني

    وقارَ الشَّيخ في سِنِّ الغلام

    A youth among the noblest, he has shown me

    an elder's dignity at a boy's age.

  41. ركبتُ إليه من أملي جواداً

    بعيدَ الخطو جوَّابَ الموامي

    I rode toward him on a steed of my hope,

    long-striding, traversing the desert wastes.

  42. فأبْرقَ واستهَلَّ ورحت أروي

    سجام القطر عن قطر سجام

    He flashed with lightning and poured rain, and I went on recounting

    the rain's outpouring, from a rain that poured.

  43. كما نَزَلتْ على أرضٍ سماءٌ

    تسيل على الأباطح والأكام

    As rain from the sky descended upon a land,

    flowing over gravelly plains and hills.

  44. فأمسى كلَّ آونةٍ قريضي

    يُغَرِّدُ منه تغريد الحمام

    So at every moment my verse began

    to warble because of him, as the doves warble.

  45. أرى مديحي لآل البيت فرضاً

    كمفتَرَضِ الصلاة أو الصيام

    I deem my praise of the Household a duty,

    like the prescribed duty of prayer or fasting.

  46. أئِمة ملَّة الإسلام كلٌّ

    يُقالُ له الإمام ابن الأمام

    Imams of the faith of Islam, each

    is called “the Imam, son of the Imam.”

  47. وما شرَفُ الأنام بغير قومٍ

    هُمُ مذ كُوّنوا شرَفُ الأنام

    Humanity has no honor apart from a people

    who, from their creation, have been humanity's honor.

  48. أفاضوا بالعطاء لمجتديهم

    وللأعداء بالموت الزؤام

    They poured out gifts for those who sought their bounty,

    and for their enemies, swift and dreadful death.

  49. وكلٌّ منهمُ ليثٌ هصورٌ

    وبحرٌ من بحور الجود طامي

    Each of them is a lion that crushes its prey,

    and a surging sea among the seas of generosity.

  50. بنفسي سيّداً في كلّ حالٍ

    يرى فيها احتشامي واحترامي

    I would ransom with my life a master who, in every circumstance,

    sees my deference and respect.

  51. ظفِرْتُ به حُساماً ليس ينبو

    نُبُوَّ مضارب السَّيف الكهام

    I gained in him a keen sword that never glances off,

    as the striking edges of a blunt sword do.

  52. وقد يُدعى الكريمُ إلى نوالٍ

    كما يُدعى الشجاع إلى صِدام

    The generous man may be summoned to give,

    as the brave man is summoned to combat.

  53. وعندي في صنائعه قوافٍ

    يضيق بهنَّ صدرُ الاكتتام

    I have rhymes about his kindnesses

    that the breast of secrecy is too narrow to contain.

  54. وشعري في صفات بني عليّ

    رُفعتُ به إلى أعلى مقام

    My poetry on the virtues of Ali's sons—

    through it I have been raised to the highest station.

  55. سأُطْرِبُ في مديحك كلَّ واعٍ

    ولا طربَ الشجيّ المستهام

    In your praise I shall enrapture every attentive listener,

    not with the rapture of a grieving, love-distraught man.

  56. وأشكرُ منك فضلك ثم أدعو

    لوجهك بالبقاء وبالدوام

    I thank you for your bounty, then pray

    that your face may remain and endure.