1. عَلى طَرفِكَ بُرهانُ

    بقَتلي فهوَ سَكرانُ

    Your gaze bears proof

    of my slaying, for it is drunken.

  2. وإن أنكرتَ فالإنكا

    رُ من عَينَيكَ عِرفانُ

    And if you deny it, the denial

    from your eyes is an acknowledgment.

  3. إذا ما اعتَرَفتَ عَينا

    كَ لي تَجحَدُ أجفانُ

    When your two eyes confess

    to me, the eyelids deny it.

  4. ودَفعُ الحقِّ بالباطِ

    لِ يا مَولايَ بُهتانُ

    And rejecting truth with falsehood,

    my master, is slander.

  5. لئِن نامَ اصطِباري فَ

    غَرامي فيكَ يَقظانُ

    Even if my forbearance sleeps, then

    my passion for you is awake.

  6. فكم قالَ رجالٌ لَي

    تَ أنَّا لكَ صُلبانُ

    How often men have said, 'Would

    that we were crosses for you!'

  7. وكم تَقتلُهُم صَبراً

    فإنَّ القَتلَ قُربانُ

    And how many you put to death as captives,

    for killing is a sacrificial offering.

  8. فلا أنتَ ولا أنسِي

    يَةٌ في طَرفِها جانُ

    So neither you nor a mortal woman

    with a jinn in her gaze—

  9. إذا عاقَبتُما عَفوُ

    كما صَدٌّ وهِجرانُ

    when you two punish, your pardon

    is rejection and estrangement.

  10. وما زادَ مِن الصَّدِّ

    فمن عُمري نُقصانُ

    And every increase in rejection

    is a decrease in my life.

  11. فإن مِتُّ فَإنسانٌ

    تَشَفَّى منه إنسانُ

    And if I die, I am a human being

    on whom another human has sated his spite.

  12. أتَدعُوكَ إلى القَصفِ

    من الأزهارِ أفنانُ

    Do you receive a summons to revelry

    from flowering branches,

  13. ولا تَغتَنمُ الفُرصَ

    ة إن أمكنَ إمكانُ

    yet not seize the opportunity

    if there is any chance?

  14. لقد نادَى مُنادي اللَّه

    وِ لو تَسمعُ آذانُ

    Indeed, the herald of revelry has called,

    if only ears would hear.

  15. فلا تَركن إلى الجِدِّ

    فما للجِدِّ أركانُ

    So do not lean on seriousness,

    for seriousness has no pillars.

  16. ونادِم دَنَّكَ المُترَ

    عَ إن أعوَزَ نَدمانُ

    And drink with your brimming wine jar

    if a drinking companion is lacking.

  17. ولِلرحمنِ في يَومِ

    حِسابِ النَّاسِ غُفرانُ

    And the All-Merciful, on the day

    of humankind's reckoning, grants forgiveness.

  18. ألا تَعجبُ من سَورا

    نَ إن تُعجَبَ سَورانُ

    Do you not marvel at Sawran?

    If you are to marvel, marvel at Sawran.

  19. هي المَيدانُ لو كانَ

    لهَا في النًّاسِ فُرسانُ

    It is the arena, if only

    it had horsemen among the people.

  20. بها لِلذَّهبِ الإبرِي

    زِ والفضَّةِ غُدرانُ

    There, pure gold

    and silver have their pools.

  21. وفيها مِن شَقيقِ الزَّه

    رِ وَسطَ الماءِ نِيرانُ

    And there, scarlet anemone blossoms

    are fires amid the water.

  22. فَكَم مِن فِتيَةٍ كلٌّ

    إلى وَعديَ ظَمآنُ

    And how many young men, each

    thirsting for my promise!

  23. شُيوخٌ وهُمُ في عَ

    رَصاتِ اللَّهوِ صِبيانُ

    Elders, yet in the courtyards

    of revelry they are boys.

  24. وإن يُذكر مُجّانٌ

    فبالمجَّانِ مُجَّانُ

    And if libertines are mentioned,

    then libertines are to be had for free.

  25. شَياطِينُ تَولَّى بَس

    طَهُم في الغيِّ شَيطانُ

    Devils, whose emboldening

    in waywardness a devil has undertaken.

  26. أطاعُوهُ وفي طاعَ

    تِهِ للَّهِ عِصيانُ

    They obeyed him, and in obedience

    to him lies disobedience to God.

  27. تحمَّلتُ عَلى اللَّهوِ

    بِهم واللَّهوُ غَضبانُ

    I appealed to revelry

    through them, though revelry was angry.

  28. فكانُوا لي كما كنتُ

    وقد كنتُ كما كانُوا

    So they were to me as I had been,

    and indeed I had been as they were.